Establishing Fire Compartmentation in Existing Buildings

Many existing buildings suffer from a lack of clarity regarding fire compartmentation. Based on our experience dealing with this issue, we propose that the following steps are undertaken to remedy this.

1 FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT (For many buildings, such as schools and social housing, this may already be carried out annually)

• Identifies all current significant fire hazards to which relevant persons on the premises, or in the immediate vicinity of the premises, would be exposed.
• Reasonably quantifies the level of residual fire risk that is attributed to the premises and its use, with regard to existing (preventive and protective) controlling measures with the emphasis on life safety.
• Advises on the nature and extent of any additional (preventive and protective) controlling measures which should be implemented in order to counteract this residual risk.

2 FIRE SAFETY ACTION PLAN (Again this may already be carried out annually)

• Sets out the relevant actions, with the responsible party and date of action indicated, based on the fire risk assessment.

3 FIRE STRATEGY + COMPARTMENTATION

• Sets out the fire strategy.
• Shows the expected levels of fire compartmentation on the floor plans.

4 FIRE DOOR + COMPARTMENTATION SURVEYS

• Assesses and records the viability of the doors and walls identified as forming the fire compartmentation.
• Provides a RAG assessment to detail the order of urgency of the replacement program.
• This survey would include invasive works where compartmentation is not exposed (e.g. between ceilings and roof, in ducts and conduits etc…).

At Reform Architects we are committed to helping our clients achieve compliance for their buildings, and work closely with fire engineers and other consultants to achieve this. If you have questions about the safety of your existing building, get in touch with us.