Passive and active fire protection systems are at the heart of fire safety design in residential buildings. So, it’s important to know how fire behaves and how that can be addressed to manage and quell a fire as soon as possible.
The height of a building is of particular importance when designing the fire protection systems. As soon as a building is taller than 18 metres, it’s harder for the fire service to tackle the fire effectively from the outside. This means firefighters need to go into the building and reach higher floors in a reasonable amount of time. Firefighting shafts are required in buildings taller than 18 metres and sprinklers in buildings over 11 metres.
Slowing and controlling the spread of fire and smoke
Of course, nobody wants an incident, but designers can mitigate the spread by ensuring the building performs well during a fire. Residential apartments are seen as single compartments, so passive fire protection is really important to stop the spread from one apartment to adjacent ones.
Fires do spread out once the windows break, so it’s important for it not to get into the cavity of the façade, which leads to a very quick spread across the building and potentially back in elsewhere. Passive fire protection can really help here. The use of
cavity breaks to stop the fire spreading past the floor and up the building should be incorporated in any design.
Controlling smoke is just as important as fire spread. Any outlets to the outside of the building need to be well sealed to prevent smoke and heat from entering the cavity. Preventing smoke from escaping into the staircases needs to be considered too, as they play an important role in escape and firefighting.
A safe external envelope
The key to constructing a safe external envelope is making sure that fire prevention and protection is part of the early stage design. Selecting the right products and materials should include checks that they are suitable for the type of building.
Once the products have been selected, and they meet the test criteria and certification, it is just as important for them to be installed correctly onsite.
Resident education also has a role to play in fire protection. For example, regulations now state that all balconies have to be non-combustible, but it’s hard to control what is placed on a balcony once it is occupied. To make people aware of the risk, it is essential that any resident package includes guidance on fire safety so they don’t, for example, overload their balcony and hallways with combustible materials.
Once the building is occupied, management and maintenance of the building needs to incorporate regular checks and maintenance of fire safety and protection systems – even simple things like checking fire doors are working correctly. What is vital at the handover stage is the fire systems include servicing contracts that ensure they are maintained throughout the life of the building.
“…designers can mitigate the spread by ensuring the building performs well during a fire.”
“it’s important to know how fire behaves and how that can be addressed to manage and quell a fire as soon as possible.”