APPOINTMENTS & NEWS 13


Decoding roof voids


Following on from his seminar presentation at this year’s Fire Safety Event, held in April at Birmingham’s NEC, Dr. Karthick Govarthanam, FIREFLY®


General Manager for , explores some of the issues surrounding fire risk in roof voids. W


e have been assured in recent years by mainstream media that our firefighters’ main role nowadays is in educating the public as to the risks they face in their homes and installing smoke alarms. Yet the UK fire and rescue services were called out to 627,553 incidents out of which 67,014 of those involved primary fires in the year ending 2022. Between 2006 and 2008, at least 10,000 of these primary fires originated from the attic occurring in pubs, care homes and schools. Under fire conditions, smoke can travel at an alarming rate of 120 to 420 feet per minute. It’s no surprise, then, that 57% of all fire-related fatalities occur outside the room where the fire started, according to insurance giant Aviva. It is crucial then that Building Control Officers and others responsible for overseeing


alterations in premises such as care homes and apartment buildings, turn their attention to roof hazards – with the most common being faulty


electrical wiring, ceiling insulation,


flammable roofing materials and leaky roofs. The latter could cause electrical wirings in the ceiling or attic to malfunction. Indeed, 41% of fire-related deaths in Great Britain were caused by the victim being overcome by gas, smoke or toxic fumes – and it can take as little as 2½ minutes for a home to be entirely engulfed in flames. To mitigate against these lethal risks there are of course legislative requirements governed through the building regulations. These regulations state that there should be a means of warning and escape, both horizontal and vertical with details on, for example, where a cavity barrier should be sited to ensure a protected stairway enclosure remains safe – especially relevant to flats and HMOs. In fact,


upgrading roof


spaces within local authority and housing association properties has become a regular application for FIREFLY‘s range of passive fire protection systems.


ADF07_TBA_Safety & Security - Fire Protection_HPAdv.indd 1


The most commonly used Fire Barriers are FIREFLY®


minutes integrity and 30 minutes insulation and FIREFLY®


ZEUS Lite™ which offers 90 ZEUS Horizontal™ affords


a combined 60 minutes insulation and 30 minutes integrity. For compartmentations within a building where just the integrity is required, as smoke and flame entrapment systems, FIREFLY®


PHOENIX Lightweight™


,


flexible fire rated smoke & flame barrier has been designed to provide, offering up to 120 minutes integrity only, when tested to BS 476 Parts 20 & 22 and BS EN 1364 Part 1. PHOENIX Horizontal™ also offers up to 120 minutes integrity.


info@tba-pt.com www.tbafirefly.com 12/07/2024 12:49


Dialling down noise at Seven Dials Market S


even Dials Market in Covent Garden is a market and dining space occupying the 19th Century Thomas


Neal’s Warehouse. Designed by architects Stiff+Trevillion for client Kerb, the scheme comprises 23,680 square metres of food, drink and entertainment space.


Centred around a large open atrium under a large skylight, the two-fl oor market features a rich and diverse collection of 20 independent food and drink businesses offering cuisine from around the world. Part of the Stiff+Trevillion’s design was to draw on the building’s history as a former banana storage warehouse and the resultant space is contemporary in style yet rooted in its heritage. The design of the building retains many original features carefully restored and refurbished including cast iron beams and brickwork arches on a fl agstone fl oor. As with all large, open spaces covered with hard surfaces,


controlling acoustics was


essential in providing a comfortable space for staff and visitors. As a result, Troldtekt wood wool acoustic panels in a black fi nish were specifi ed for use around the central


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skylight to help acoustical performance. This is an excellent example of how acoustic panels can be incorporated into a project allowing architects to design modern, large spaces with hard surfaces but mitigating the problems stemming from long reverberation time and refl ected sound. Troldtekt acoustic panels are available in a variety of different structures and colours, combining superior sound absorption with an award-winning design. The Troldtekt range has a minimum expected life cycle of 50 years coupled with excellent resistance to humidity and tested to meet ball impact standards. The range is available in various sizes and structures, from extreme fi ne to fi ne. They can be supplied as natural wood


Photos: Andy Stagg


or fi nished in almost any RAL or NCS colour. Depending on the panel specifi ed, reaction to fi re is classed in accordance with EN 13501 as B-s1,d0 or A2-s1,d0 respectively. Cradle to Cradle Certifi ed®


at Gold level,


Troldtekt wood wool acoustic panels are manufactured using wood from certifi ed forests (PEFC™


and FSC® C115450) and


can contribute positively to a building’s BREEAM, WELL or LEED points. Samples,


technical guidance are available from www.troldtekt.co.uk


case studies and or


www.troldtekt.co.uk 28/08/2024 11:33


listings on NBS (bit.ly/3vxoTfq) or Material Bank (www.materialbank.eu).


see our product


WWW.BUILDINGCONSTRUCTIONDESIGN.CO.UK


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