FOCUS
Welcome news With news that ADB will see a technical review, Tom Roche reflects on the current system and examines proposals and mooted changes
welcomed by industries across the UK. With the last review in 2007, much has changed in the construction industry, particularly in terms of building use, materials and techniques. All of these factors have had a huge impact on the built environment’s potential fi re risk. Furthermore, in view of these changes, an assumption that the fi re performance of the built environment will remain the same as the previous year is not a sound one. Considering that there has been no regulatory change in over a decade, the threat of fire needs to be reviewed holistically as it now represents a greater challenge to the built environment.
N Present system
In its current state, ADB does not ensure suffi cient resilience in the event of fi re in all properties. Home Office figures show that the fire and rescue services (FRSs) in England have attended 26,700 fi res in industrial and commercial buildings (ICBs) in the past three years1
.
High profile fires such as those last year in Daventry, Croydon and the Glasgow School
22 MARCH 2019
www.frmjournal.com
EWS OF the decision to review the Building Regulations’ fi re safety guidance, Approved Document B (ADB), is
of Art (GSA) mask the fact that fires destroy buildings and businesses up and down the country on a regular basis. Each impacts most harshly on the local
community, because large destructive fires often stop the economic and/or social activity of the building concerned. Last year, fi re tore through a 40,000m2
unsprinklered warehouse in
Daventry, Northamptonshire, the short term effects of which included the destruction of the building and all the precious stock held on site. Long term effects included staff relocation and a range of fi nancial and economic costs. The newly opened warehouse was home
to one of the UK’s leading garden suppliers, Gardman. In commissioning the £30m building the developer, Prologis, made a commendable commitment to achieving a ‘Very Good’ BREEAM rating, to help ensure a sustainable design and attract a client to the building. BREEAM is a global sustainability rating process for projects, infrastructure and buildings. The building was awarded its BREEAM rating due to its renewable carbon technologies, though its sustainability came into question when the warehouse burned to the ground. On New Year’s Eve, a building belonging to self storage company, Shurgard, burned to the
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