10 FRONT COVER SPOTLIGHT Passive fire protection specification Sean Appleton, Marketing Manager, Promat UK Limited T here is seldom a time when a high-
profile fire is not making news headlines somewhere in the UK, and this regularly focuses attention on the subject of providing effective fire protection. Of course, saving lives is always the number one priority, but with fire related losses at an all time high, the need to also save buildings and the businesses they house is another significant driving force. The Arson Prevention Bureau estimates that up to 80% of businesses never fully recover from a fire.
The term passive fire protection generally covers such things as fire-resisting partitions, barriers and ceiling systems which are actually built into the fabric of the building - elements which play a key role in helping to achieve these aims. They help control the spread of a fire, buy time for a building’s occupants to escape, help fire fighters tackle the blaze and also limit the damage wherever possible.
Yet buildings continue to become more complex in their design and this places extra pressure on the designers of fire protection systems. They must implement fire engineering principles and balance the use of passive fire protection against other measures, such as alarms and sprinklers, to create an integrated, effective and reliable solution.
Naturally there is a raft of guidelines, Building Regulations and certification schemes relating to fire protection that specifiers should be aware of and, in some cases, conform to. The increasing depth and complexity of these requirements can easily overwhelm the specification process and make the selection of the most appropriate solution a daunting task.
PASSIVE FIRE PROTECTION
MEASURES HAVE A LONG HISTORY OF HELPING LIMIT THE EFFECTS OF FIRE IN BUILDINGS, BUT SPECIFYING A ROBUST SYSTEM ISN’T STRAIGHTFORWARD.
Fortunately, help is at hand. By selecting a well-established manufacturer who is able to offer a wide range of fire protection products and systems the architect, specifier or contractor can gain a great advantage in the race to comply with all the relevant regulations and best-practice guidelines. The more prominent fire protection manufacturers are ideally placed to provide all the necessary advice and technical guidance on the design of a passive fire protection system and the earlier they become involved, the easier it is to arrive at a cost-effective solution that does not compromise on performance. Those same manufacturers will also be able to provide all the required components needed so that a fully integrated and effective system can be sourced from a single supplier.
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