Tensar achieves first CE Mark for Stabilisation Geogrid via the European Technical Assessment process

Tensar International, a global leader in soil-reinforcement and ground stabilisation technology, has used its spirit of innovation to ensure even its most unique products hold CE Mark status. While the majority of manufacturers are able to achieve the mandatory CE Mark status for their defined product type through the harmonised standard route defined in the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), companies such as Tensar, which offers a triangular geogrid structure that performs a function not yet covered by a harmonised standard, must take an alternative route to CE Marking. Recognising this, the team at Tensar opted to go down the alternative assessment process set by the European Organisation for Technical Assessment (EOTA®) and defined in the CPR and its predecessor, the Construction Products Directive (CPD), achieving CE Marking for its patented TriAx technology via the European Technical Assessment (ETA) route. Tim Oliver, Vice President of Global Technology for Tensar, was delighted for Tensar to receive CE mark status for TriAx via the ETA route. He said: “The ETA route was established by EOTA® to encourage innovative manufacturers to go beyond the harmonised standards. The harmonised standard relevant to geogrids in roads and trafficked areas only incorporates characteristics that are relevant to geogrids functioning as reinforcement in a tensioned membrane mechanism. However, our patented TriAx geogrid technology has been proven to provide a stabilisation function, confining the aggregate layer into which it is placed and increasing the modulus of the layer. This stabilisation function was not recognised within the current harmonised standard. “By going down the ETA route, in accordance with this new legislation, we have provided our customers with a choice of designing and specifying TriAx either for stabilisation or a reinforcement function. However we can show them that stabilisation approach to design offers them the greater benefits for both weak subgrade problems and pavement optimisation solutions.” Introduced to replace the Construction Products Directive (CPD), the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) is an EU wide directive that ensures products used in construction projects across the continent share a ‘common technical language’ by adopting uniform methods of testing for each product type. The European Organisation for Technical Approval (EOTA®) recognised the stabilisation function of TriAx in January 2013. For more information on Tensar’s ground stabilisation products, including TriAx, visit http://www.tensar.co.uk/Systems-Products/TriAx-geogrids-TX/TriAx-TX-geogrids