safety & security

Fire risk a particular concern in school design

Each year around one in 20 schools experiences a fire, an extraordinary statistic which should lead designers and operators of schools to consider not so much ‘if’ a fire will occur as ‘when’, suggests JON GREENHALGH, commercial surveyor at NHBC.

are the same risk. Common sense dictates that a primary school in rural Devon is a much lower fire risk premises than an inner city secondary school. Further details of this are contained in BB100, which shows differing numbers of fires by fire brigade region. Other considerations are past incidences

of fire/ future likelihood, the vulnerability of a school and its buildings to fire, fire safety and protection measures – also the consequences or impact of a fire on school users and the buildings.

Risk tool

Jon Greenhalgh:

Not all schools are the same risk.

T

HIS HIGHLIGHTS the need for a different mindset when compared to the design of other buildings such as

offices or retail premises where fires are a much rarer occurrence. In recognition of this, the DCSF issued a 2007 update of BB100 – Design for Fire Safety in Schools (1)

.

This is now a mandatory design code for the construction of all schools which are LEA funded. Approved Document B [ADB] (2) supporting the Building Regulations, also pushes designers down this route in order to meet statutory requirements. The guide is relevant to all education

stakeholders and covers fire safety design, arson and property protection measures and fire safety management. Running through this is the theme of ‘fire risk assessment’ [FRA] as the guide is quick to acknowledge that not all schools

These considerations and a number of other factors are weighed in a Building Research Establishment (BRE) designed fire risk assessment spreadsheet tool which aims to score existing or proposed

the potential for multiple fire deaths always exists, hence the need for caution in design

schools low, average or high fire risk. In practice, many users of this tool may find their project falls into the high risk category – as this is the broadest category – and it requires some special fire safety measures to design this out. Using the interactive spreadsheet, you can quickly see the changes that

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