TECNALIA expands its large-scale fire testing capacity for international markets
- The research and technological development centre has obtained accreditation for large-scale fire testing in accordance with the regulations of countries like Canada, in addition to those already obtained for the United States or the United Kingdom, making it the only European laboratory with such a capacity
- These tests validate building envelope systems to ensure safety in high-rise and unique buildings, and represent a business opportunity for construction companies to reach new markets
- TECNALIA is a European benchmark in fire safety and has been helping the construction industry for more than 25 years to guarantee the viability and efficiency of its developments in order to accelerate their market entry
Azpeitia, 18th July 2025. The TECNALIA research and technological development centre has obtained a new accreditation for large-scale fire testing, in accordance with the regulations of countries like Canada, in addition to those already obtained for the United States or the United Kingdom, making it the only European laboratory with such a capacity. In this way, new business opportunities are opened up for companies in the construction industry to enter highly regulated and demanding markets beyond Europe.
The new accreditation, which complies with CAN/ULC-S134-13, enables building envelope systems to be validated in Canada to ensure safety in high-rise and unique buildings. To do so, the real fire behaviour of façade systems is assessed by simulating a fire at the base of the building and analysing the spread of flames, heat flow and possible fire penetration into the building.
This accreditation rounds off the validations already held by the centre, which has been a European benchmark in fire safety for more than 25 years, helping the construction industry to ensure the viability and effectiveness of its developments in order to accelerate their market entry. They are the reference standards in the United Kingdom, the United States and the Middle East, and are applied in other countries around the world.
Having this accreditation makes it easier for companies in this industry to comply with international regulations and opens up new business opportunities, enabling products and construction systems to be approved in highly regulated and demanding environments, where this type of testing is a requirement for the marketing of façade solutions.
Pioneering testing laboratory
To make this possible, TECNALIA set up a laboratory for large-scale fire spread tests on façades in 2018 at its facilities in Azpeitia (Gipuzkoa), where it has already carried out more than 75 tests with more than 22 companies.
- Ensuring fire safety is one of the priorities for companies working in new construction or refurbishment. To ensure the future of buildings and guarantee good performance in the event of an exterior fire, the regulation is increasingly demanding and states that the solutions included in building projects must have technical tests and justification.
- Companies will be able to test their products and innovative developments at this laboratory to ensure their viability and effectiveness, obtain the corresponding evaluation of the results in an accredited test report and accelerate their market entry.
- More specifically, there are three lines of work: characterisation of fire safety features based on European and international regulations (which are constantly evolving); obtaining technical documents, such as test reports and classification accredited by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) for construction products and technical suitability documents for innovative products for which there are no standards of use; and guidance in the regulatory requirements to achieve the diversification of business lines towards other sectors or markets.
The large-scale testing methods consist of reproducing the spread of fire on the façade of a building, whether caused by an external source of fire or a fire in a room that spreads through the window gap. Therefore, this test makes it possible to determine the performance of complete façade solutions in the event of the external spread of fire of a magnitude that is similar to a real fire.
