18 Sustainable fire safety
Kelly Westwood from Knauf Insulation discusses the critical need to combine fire safety and sustainability in buildings of the future
contain levels of carcinogenic chemicals and other harmful toxins 160 times higher than other urban areas.
As well as releasing pollutants, fire can destroy a building and its contents. In the clear up, fire-damaged materials are usually sent to landfill. New resources need to be used for the repairs or rebuild, accumulating more embodied carbon into the building’s lifetime footprint. Even if a fire never occurs, inappropriate fire design may necessitate remedial work, as is the case with the tower blocks identified in the wake of the post-Grenfell cladding scandal. Fire risk may even result in whole properties being deemed unsafe, leading to their premature demolition – something that is hardly sustainable.
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OP26 in Glasgow brought a renewed focus and urgency to the long-term sustainability of the built
environment. This is reflected in updated Building Regulations, which came into force in June this year, as well as in the response by RIBA, which has set 2030 targets for operational and embodied carbon. For buildings to be sustainable, they must also be resilient; i.e. designed to last, adapting to changes in use or tightening regulations. Fire safety must be considered one of the foundational pillars of sustainable design.
The impact of fire on sustainability As well as the potential for injury and loss of life, building fires have a devastating impact on the environment. Fires emit CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere and release chemicals that contaminate both land and water. This is evidenced by soil samples collected 140 metres from the Grenfell fire site. As long as 16 months after the fire occurred, they were found to still
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Go beyond Building Regulations It is essential that every building is designed to be fit for purpose throughout their intended lifespan. This means fire protection measures must not only meet the minimum standards outlined by existing legislation, but go beyond them to effectively future- proof the building – something that is already required for non-domestic buildings as part of the BREEAM In-Use certificate. Building regulations already ban the use of combustible materials in the external walls of certain buildings over 18 metres in England and Wales (11 metres in Scotland). Key structural elements must also achieve a specified period of fire resistance to prevent the passage of fire from one area to another. This is achieved by designing the build-ups of the roof, walls and floors to compartmentalise the building. As well as creating dedicated escape routes for occupants, compartmentalisation works in conjunction with sprinkler systems (if installed) to help limit the fire to a confined area. This minimises its spread and means it can be extinguished quickly, which reduces the scale of any repairs or rebuilding work required after the fire and the impact on the environment. But problems occur if the structure has been compromised due to poor installation
ADF AUGUST 2022
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