BYTNAR - TALKS
EPISODE 017 - APPROVED DOCUMENT B - FIRE SAFETY - PART 4 OF 4
This episode is for people who want to know more about Approved Document Part B – Fire Safety.
You should like this episode if you ask yourself questions like:
What are the vehicle access requirements for fire safety in dwellinghouses under Approved Document B?
How close should a fire main be to a fire appliance according to UK Building Regulations?
What are the standards for dry and wet fire mains in high-rise buildings?
What is REI120 and REI60 in fire safety enclosures, and when are they required?
How should smoke and heat be ventilated from basements in residential buildings?
What is the maximum allowable hose distance for firefighting operations in buildings?
How do I design fire safety information plans for compliance with Section 17?
What are the guidelines for turning facilities for fire vehicles on residential properties?
What are the fire safety requirements for high-rise buildings over 18 meters in height?
This is Bytnar Talks the Engineer Takes on Construction Episode 17 hi I'm Piotr Bytnar each day I help my clients plan and design building projects through Bytnar Limited a Consulting Chartered Structural Engineers practice my biggest passion and the corner stone on which I've built my business is find finding clever solutions for construction projects I am a chartered structural engineer and a buing software developer so you can rest assured that I will strive to talk about the best practices and the use of new technologies in the industry and if you're embarking on a construction project or are involved in planning designing and building the world around us you'll find this podcast useful approved document B fires safety part four hi there and welcome to bitn talks your favorite podcast on all matters of architecture engineering and construction it is Thursday the 23rd of May 20124 and I'm here back with you with the 17th episode and further information on fire safety in dwellings today I'll close this part of the consideration of fire safety in buildings and we'll move move to volume two which deals with all other buildings in subsequent episodes last week in episode 16 I talked about the requirement B free and B4 covering sections 5 to 12 I told you about the requirement B free which deals with the building stability during a fire event I've also talked about measures to inhibit fire spread both within the building and between separate structures that is requirement before and that the requirement mandates subdivision of buildings with fire resistant construction and installation of automatic fire suppression systems were necessary additionally it requires the inhibition of unseen fire and smoke spread within concealed spaces putting extra attention onto cavity barriers and fire stopping wherever needed in this episode I will cover requirement B5 mentioned requirements of the regulation 38 and tell you what you can find in appendices this episode will cover the aspects of necessary Provisions for the events of fire and requirement information for the safe management maintenance and operation of the building as well as preparation for the event of fire so without further Ado let's dive into the fire safety requirement B5 regulation 38 and appendices a street in the approved [Music] document today I'll tell you a bit about the requirement B5 regulation 38 and tell you what you can find in appendices of the approved document in the gist we need to provide enough of appropriate space and access for the fire and rescue teams to allow an inhibited operation and consider feasible distances for the fire operation like the hose length or enough water pressure to serve a building there are Provisions within the document dealing with typical fire safety installation and Equipment however some consultation with the local fire brigade may be necessary as the equipment varies from District to District in this episode you'll find out what to take in consideration When approaching the firefighting and rescue operation requirement of the building regulations what to think about when designing the building and operating it and what to scope and what sort of scope of information provision should be in place following the completion of the build or at the first occupation of such building to allow for the well-informed reaction in the event of fire all right let's get on to it shall we requirement B5 access and Facilities for the fire service as however let's start with finding out what the legislation requires of us in its Waring so requirement B5 there are two points in it Point number one the building shall be designed and constructed so as to provide reasonable facilities to assist firefighters in the protection of life and point two reasonable Provisions shall be made within the side of the building to enable fire appliances to gain access to the building relatively simple right and what does that mean in the real terms of course the width and breadth of the approach will depend on the building's type and and size it is been understood that most of the firefighting will happen within the building therefore there should be enough provision for the safe execution of a firefighting operation within that building including smoke and heat ventilation were appropriate and there should be enough space near the building to enable that operation the operation of fire appliances there should be enough information available about the building to allow firefighting men women appropriate assessment before they go inside and risk their life saving yours let's start with Section 13 vehicle access in dwelling houses vehicle access should be provided near enough to the building so it can serve it in the event of Fire the general prescription is around 45 M for the pumping Appliance so the host can reach the Fest point in that building that that it tries to save and the access point the access doors should be at least 750 mm wide to allow uninhibited access for the firefighters in Flats however there are two separate separate possibilities that can be can be chose you you can choose from it's either similar to the to the dwelling houses provision of opening of 750 mm white which is universal you you need to have at least that but also the pumping Appliance if the if the BL of block of flats is small enough to allow allow outside pumping then then then that's what should be provided with the with the Fest distance of 45 M met if the elevation is long enough the doors may need to be provided every 60 M centers or to the edge of that building so there needs to be enough access to allow proper proper fire firefighting action in the event of fire and there need to be enough of those of those entry points to the building or we can use we can provide fire Mains to the building and that can be of of two types really they can be either dry or wet for dry firemen pumping appliances access should be no further than 80 M away from the inlet and that Inlet need to be clearly visible from the parking position of the appliance and it needs to meet Section 8 of British standard 9990 or be of wet designation and similarly need need that 80 M distance to access entrance to the fire main visible it need to be visible from the entry access and with a clear access to the sunction tank inlet just in case it needs refilling hard standings and Roads should comply with the regulations as well notably the access should preclude a situation where the vehicle needs to reverse for more than 20 M if such is the case there should be turning facilities in Place Road needs to withstand the axle pressure of the vehicle which is around 12 and 1/2 tons in general or 17 tons if the fire equipment needs to Traverse the bridge off to section 14 Fire Man Mains and hydrants in Flats so what is the dry and wet fire man you ask dry is basically empty inside and is supplied with water by the firefighters pumps and there obviously will be limits to how far that can go how far that system can go and the wet system has its own tanks and is full of water but inlets need to be provided to replenish tanks when needed fire Mains should be provided in firefighting shafts or protected stairways or in the circumstance where there is no such shaft and there is also no access for the firefighting vehicles in any case the maximum distance for the hose should not be more than 45 M from the outlet if there are no sprinklers in place and 60 M if there are if we do not know the layout of the building at the point of specification and design the distance the maximum distance should be taken as two F of the on plan distance or on plan diameter if you like of a circle diameter for the reach there is a limit for the provision of a system and it is 50 m above the firefighting vehicle access level to limit the host pressure to 10 bars five bars to reach the 50 m and head and to have residual five bars of pressure at the top to fight fire the fire main system and hydrant are covered in more detail in pretty standards Tri 90 the building may require additional private hydrant if it is constructed over certain limits which is 100 m away from an existing Fire H hydrant or having floor area of over 280 M squared if the water supply is not sufficient an alternative Supply may be required and can be a tank River or any other source of water but capable of supplying 45,000 L of water at any point and it is subject to consultation with local fire service section 15 treats about access to buildings for firefighting Personnel in floods generally for lowrise buildings with no basement the access is achieved through front doors and protected stairways for higher rise buildings though with stories over 80 M height over the vehicle access level should should have one or more firefighting shaft each with firefighting lift in any case we are talking rate 120 for the enclosure and rate 60 for separation so 2 hours for the shaft to become impenetrable to Fire and be and stay stable and raise 60 for any separation within that shaft enclosure from the habitable part of the building and separation within the enclosure between stairs and Lobby and lift doors in this construction should be subsequently consider as either E60 or E30 so E60 in 2our construction walls and enclosure and E3 in 60 minutes enclosure the additional consideration for basement and the protected shaft should be provided when the lowest basement story is below 10 M from the vehicle access point and include a firefighting lift or for large basements of minimum 900 M Square per story having two or more stories but it doesn't require firey lightning Leaf until the point of being below 10 m in fire shafted buildings an additional shaft needs consideration if there are flaws at level over 18 m above fire and fire engines and rescue vehicles or stories over if there are stories over 900 M square of floor area it is important to keep the fire fighting shaft isolated from the remaining part of the building and allowing ventilation of heat and smoke so it can remain operational for the time of the fire event and have fir mans with outlets and valves at each story There are rules for Rolling shatters that should remain operational without the need of lers clear signage should be provided for buildings with stories over 11 M from the ground level an evacuation alert system will be needed in blocks of flats with a top story over 80 m above ground level secure information boxes should be provided for blocks of flat over the 11 m above the ground level floor limits so that the firefighting crew can access the information immediately section 16 then deals with venting of hid smoke from bra basements in Flats basement stories and compartments should be ventilated and provided with heat and smoke removal in place when the basement is shallow Less Than 3 m and small less than 200 M Square in footprint and rooms have and if the rooms have Windows and Doors these do not need special ventilation arrangements as this can be easily easily ventilated by by this this openings strong rooms do not need smoke outlets and the strong room is like a safe safe cabinet safe room so for example Banks would would have these in basements that's for sure natural smoke outlet should be distributed around the perimeter of the basement of the room of the enclosure and at the high level of the space they serve and they need to be of minimum of 2 and a half% area of the space they serve either unobscured or clearly signed and accessible accessible and away from Escape Routes if we install mechanical extraction this can be provided for basement with sprinkler system installed by but needs to be of sufficient standard a sufficient standard means 10 air changes 300° gas resistance for 60 minutes and activated automatically the dting should be class A1 Fire rating and separated if serve separate compartments or stories this brings us to the last last section section 17 that extends on the regul 38 fire safety information so what does the legislation say here fire safety information regulation 38 there's three points here Point number one this regulation applies where building work a consists of or includes the erection of or extension of a relevant building or B is carried out in connection with a relevant change of use of a building and power B of schedule one imposes a requirement in relation to the work point two the person carrying out the work shall give fire safety information to the responsible person not later than the date of completion of the work or the date of occupation of the building or extension whichever is the earlier and point three in this regulation fire safety information means information relating to the design and construction of the building or extension and the services fittings and Equipment provided in or in connection with the building or extension which will assist the responsible person to operate and maintain the building or extension with reasonable safety b a relevant building is a building to which the regulatory reform fire safety order 2005 applies or will apply after the completion of building Works c a relevant change of use is a material change of use where after the change of use takes place the regulatory per reform fire safety order 205 will apply or continue to apply to the building and D responsible person has the meaning given by article three of the regulatory reform fire safety order 2005 it is all about the relevant building and the provision of sufficient information to people or a person responsible for the building to make sure the building is operated and maintained as necessary and that the fire safety strategy is known information will need to cover the typical aspects of the building fire safety such as one an as build plan showing Escape Routes including exit capacity per story in building location of fire separating elements fire doorsets location of detection devices alarms firefighting equipment and points sprinkler system and its valves and control equipment smoke Control Systems its modes of operation and control systems high risk areas point two specification of fire safety equipment and maintenance schedules point three assumption regarding the management of the building point for any provisions for the evacuation of disabled people and that's General provision which will be enhanced upon in the higher risk or complex buildings and will be enhan enhanced with the fire safety strategy as point one in point two with procedures for operating and maintaining any fire protection measures with outline cause and effect matri strategy for the building in essence giving the person operating the building understanding of different fire scenarios and how they should be approached and point three all the general information in my new details this is it for the requirement now why won't we skim through the appendices shall we so appendices a is a glossery of terms and there's plenty of terms that you may not be familiarized with so that's the that's the that's the appendices to go to in appendices B there's plenty of explanation to the abbreviations and letters behind all of the specifications in the main text like you know behind the material Performance Products and structures or all your A2 S1 z b roof t4s or Ray are explained here required fire resistance of building elements depending on the position and type of the building minimum periods of fire resistance depending on the Purpose Group classification and how to apply this together with the limits on uninsulated glazing used on Escape Routes can be found in appendix B appendix C gathers all expectations regarding fire do appending d explains the measurements referred to in in the approved document or or how to measure the clear openings and such appendix e covers consideration involving sprinkl appending F lists all the standards referred to in documents and the ca 90 documents regulating all all from materials through testing designing and specification of all fire safety considerations and finally we get to append this G which lists all of other remaining legislation and Publications the document refers [Music] to so here we have it approv document B volume one is done and dusted but before we say our goodbyes let's recap a little bit as you can appreciate the legislation provides comprehensive guidelines for building design and construction to ensure fire safety and facilitate firefighting operation requirement B5 deals with access and facilities for the fire fire service where building must offer reasonable facilities for firefighters and allow fire appliances to access the building adequate internal provision for safe firefighting operations including smoke and heat ventilation are also required section 13 deals with vehicle access for in houses vehicle access must ensure those are at least 750 mm wide and no point in the house is more than 45 M from a pumpin appliance for Flats either similar access requirements apply or fire M system is provided dry fire man should be within 80 M of the appliance visible from the parking position and comply with bsle 90 standard roads and hard standing areas must support Vehicles axles pressure and prevent reversing of 20 M with turning facilities provided if necessary fire M and hydrant are dealt with in section 14 where dry firan are supplied by firefighters pumps and wet firan have internal water tanks firan should be within protected shafts or stairways ensuring host distances do not exceed 45 M or 60 M if with sprinklers dry systems must not exceed 50 m High high above the access level to limit house pressure to 10 bars additional private hydrons are necessary if if existing hydrant are over 100 m away or for buildings with large floor areas here we go to section 15 where access for firefighting personel is considered in lowrise buildings access through front doors and protected stairway is is a typical occurrence highrise buildings over 80 M require firefighting shafts with lifts ensuring Ray 120 enclosure and Ray 60 separation basements also require firefighting shafts if below 10 m Oro stories and more of large footprint firefighting shafts should facilitate smoke and heat ventilation with clear signage for buildings over 11 m in height section 16 deals with venting of heat and smoke from basement which must have heat and smoke ventilation small and shallow basement with Windows and Doors may not need special Arrangements natural smoke Outlets should cover 2 and a half% of the floor space while mechanical extraction is required for basement with sprinklers ensuring high performance and resistance to heat all the provision in place will not make the building safer if there is no dissemination of easily accessible information and that is section 17 fire safety information detailed and live fire safety information must be provided including as buil plans showing Escape Routes fire separation doors detection devices firefighting equipment sprinkle systems and highrisk areas specifications of fire safety equipment and maintenance schedules management assumptions and evacuation Provisions for disabled people for complex buildings the fire safety strategy and maintenance procedures must be detailed in appendices you find all the information serving the main text from a glossery of TS Through Fire Resistance classifications and detailed fire tow expectations to lists of all relevant approved standards legislation and publications now you can appreciate that these comprehensive requirements Ure buildings are designed and maintained to facilitate effective firefighting and occupant safety in the next episode we move to the volume two of the approv document be dealing with buildings other than [Music] dwellings I hope you enjoy this episode and that the consideration of fire safety requirements B5 and regulation 38 are now more clear and comprehendible for you if you have any questions reach out to me on LinkedIn or send me an email I'm more than happy to help you out in betna we deal with planning designing and managing of your projects and we are always glad to facilitate a free initial consultation to steer you in the right direction visit www.bit.ly advice at Bitner we help our clients design and execute their dream homes or Investments if your building is falling apart though we can also help investigate the reasons behind it and to provide you an appropriate strategy design and specifications for the repair thank you again for listening please voice up your opinions I'm waiting for you on LinkedIn and I want to hear from you see you next week and remember Bytnar Designs the World Around You, Toodloo!
Piotr Bytnar BEng (Hons) MSc CEng MIStructE
Chartered Structural Engineer who deals with the Architecture of buildings. His Master's Studies led him to an in-depth understanding of risk and contract arrangements in construction as well as specialist knowledge in soil mechanics.
He and his team help homeowners and property developers to design and deliver construction projects reducing waste in time and the cost. He believes that the construction project is an iterative process that can be well managed and it is best managed if all the aspects of the project definition and management are dealt with in-house or coordinated by one organisation. His team works to all stages of RIBA and ISTRUCTE stages of work and enables contractors to deliver projects on-site providing risk evaluations, methodologies for execution of works and temporary works designs.
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