Product category:
Fire and Smoke Protection, Detection and Alarms
News Release from: Promat UK | Subject: Fire barriers and fire-resistant ducting
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 25 May 2004
Vital Fire Barriers And Fire-resistant
Ducting
Mark Lavender, Market Manager Fire Applications, at Promat UK Limited, explains why fire barriers and fire-resistant ducting are vital to safeguard lives and business.
High profile fires have given new urgency to the question of fire protection in recent years Saving lives is the bottom line
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 25 May 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Formation of fire compartments in buildings
In todays insurance industry, the formation of fire compartments in buildings is one of the most highly debated issues.
Load-bearing columns, beams and floors must be proven to be fire-resistant.
Fire compartmentation using fire barriers is now a vital component of building design.
Passive fire protection can help control the spread of a fire and limit the damage to a predetermined, acceptable risk.
It gives occupants the time to escape and fire fighters a safe haven from which to fight the fire and a chance to stop the building's collapse.
As buildings become more complex in their function, designers may need to implement fire engineering principles and strike a balance between active protection, such as sprinklers, and passive protection measures which are literally built into the building fabric.
DURASTEEL, the market leader in fire barriers and fire rated ducting, offers a complete containment system a fit-and-forget solution that's been tried and tested under the most extreme conditions.
This has resulted in specifications by key clients such as MOD, BT and London Electricity as well as by architects and mechanical design consultants for landmark projects such as Tower Place, the Jubilee Line Extension, Museum of Scotland, British Museum and various Hayes Logisitics sites.
Produced by Promat UK, DURASTEEL is a sheeting made from a core of composite fibre cement sandwiched between mechanically-bonded steel facings.
Its exceptional fire protection is combined with lightness and durability.
It can withstand prolonged exposure to fire up to six hours and, while hot, will withstand spray from fire-fighters or sprinkler action.
DURASTEEL is also renowned for its impact and blast-resistance - particularly relevant in these troubled times.
Typical areas of use for DURASTEEL include distribution, storage and warehousing, military buildings, petro-chemical plants, airports, underground train stations, road and rail tunnels, utilities1 installations and fire resistant ducting applications in major commercial and public assembly buildings.
Such has been the demand for DURASTEEL in 2003 that production capacity at Promat UK's Blackburn plant is being doubled.
The company is also releasing new guides for the specification of DURASTEEL for fire barriers and fire-rated duct applications.
Expert advice.
There's a wealth of rules and regulations governing fire protection that specifiers need to be on top of.
Fortunately, Promat UK is on hand to provide expert advice, also working with designers to achieve the most cost-effective solution without compromising performance.
To prevent failure of a fire compartmentation system, the protection must do more than simply stop the spread of flame and/or heat transfer.
It must also withstand associated hazards such as water or impact, which can occur as the result of falling debris or fire-fighting action.
Insurers, through the Loss Prevention Council, also provide basic recommendations for compartmentation within the LPC's Design Guide for the Fire Protection of Buildings.
British Standards, meanwhile, judges fire resistance as the performance of a complete construction, rather than an individual material.
Through BS 476: Parts 20-24, 1987 the standard targets loadbearing capacity, integrity, insulation and stability.
DURASTEEL has been tested to comply with all relevant parts of BS 476.
DURASTEEL barriers have been assessed for use up to 15m for fire and windloading.
Ease of installation DURASTEEL sheet is available in 6mm and 9.5mm, with a standard dimension of 2500mm x1200mm, in galvanised mild steel or stainless steel finishes.
In 6mm, it weighs just 16.8kg/ m2, and in 9.5mm just 21kg/ m2.
DURASTEEL can be cut with a guillotine, jigsaw or grinder, and fixed with self-tapping, self-drilling screws.
Lightness and ease of installation makes DURASTEEL suitable for installation in existing buildings.
In a typical partition application, two layers of DURASTEEL are set on steel channel tracks, sandwiching mineral wool between them.
Steel studs located at 1.2m centres or at every board vertical edge fix the sheets to fillets and horizontal framing members.
The barrier can also be fixed as a single sheet.
To achieve an equivalent level of protection using plasterboard would take 2-3 layers.
Projects include the Jubilee Line Extension for London Underground, where designers drew on the recommendations of the public enquiry that followed the 1987 King's Cross fire.
An example of where DURASTEEL was judged more cost-effective than a sprinkler system was in providing a fire barrier for a giant warehouse owned by Knights of Old, the Kettering-based logistics company.
The local authority and fire brigade were worried about the clothing and household goods to be stored in the 4000m2 building.
They specified either a four-hour fire-resisting partition, or the installation of sprinklers.
The architects chose a DURASTEEL barrier - a 1000m2 wall that worked out half the price of a sprinkler system.
DURASTEEL engineers were involved in the design of the barrier.
Its 4-hour fire rating was independently tested and assessed by the LPC.
Its impact resistance will also withstand the collapse of adjacent high racking into the barrier.
As the barrier was low weight - just 27kg/m2 - it was built off the existing concrete slab without the need for strengthening or additional foundations.
A four-man team installed it in less than four weeks.
Over 17,000m2 of DURASTEEL barriers were recently installed at a Hays Pro Logic document storage complex in East London, forming several 4-hour compartments with individual capacities of 40,000m3.
The Ministry of Defence makes extensive use of the barriers for materials and equipment storage.
Ducting In today's modern commercial and public assembly buildings, the use of fire dampers at fire boundaries could negate the life safety function of ductwork serving remote compartments.
The function of ductwork in life safety mode is to remove smoke and the products of combustion safely from the building.
Fire rated ductwork must maintain full fire integrity, including retained cross section for smoke removal.
The ductwork may contain the fire but if it's transferring sufficient heat, there's still a risk the fire can spread to adjacent compartments.
Situated where the ductwork passes through a fire barrier such as a floor or a wall, the damper seals the ductwork should a fire break out.
But this system can have its drawbacks.
Used on dedicated smoke extracts or kitchen extracts, dampers would impede the ductwork's emergency functions.
Also, on general ventilation for multi-compartment buildings, the structure would need to be peppered with dampers to ensure containment.
Fire-rated ductwork, such as Promat's Duraduct range, is the answer.
Duraduct LT and SMT-Fireblast ductwork systems provide up to four hours protection to suit the demands of modern developments.
Virtually maintenance-free, these are Ofit-and-forget1 solutions for internal and external applications.
They meet the demands of BS: 476 Pt 24, and of BS 7346 Pt 2, which governs the specification for powered smoke and heat exhaust ventilators LT is a fast-track and economical system that combines the airflow and wipe-down characteristics of standard galvanised steel ductwork with the renowned fire protection and strength of DURASTEEL.
It has been tried and tested for all fire rated duct applications.
These include natural ventilation ducting, mechanical ventilation ducting, smoke extraction and non-domestic kitchen extracts.
Previous projects include HQ5 at Canary Wharf, Plantation Place in London and York's Monk Cross office development to name but a few.
LT is made from galvanised steel inner ductwork topped with 6mm DURASTEEL and finishing trim angles.
It is factory manufactured by Promat UK Limited approved contractors and delivered to site with minimal handling.
SMT-Fireblast is designed for potentially explosive environments such as electrical transformer and switch gear rooms.
Its key characteristics include blast and impact resistance.
Its applications include smoke control, protection of building services, lift-shaft protection and the pressurisation of riser shafts.
Past clients in London include the Jubilee Line Extension, the Docklands Light Railway and the Tower Place office development SMT is formed by fixing 9.5mm DURASTEEL sheets onto a steel skeletal framework.
The sheets are then fixed with self-tapping screws and Promaseal mastic.
The lengths of ductwork are bolted together, trapping the mastic between the mating flanges.
It can be built in one, two, three or four-sided versions.
This versatility saves space, time and material cost.
A further Promat ducting system, Duraduct SR, is used with LT and SMT for connection between the main smoke extract system and grilles where insulation performance is not needed.
It can also be used for smaller cross-section extract ducts located within protected shafts.
SR meets BS 476 requirements on stability and integrity for up to 120 minutes.
Back-up Promat UK has a wealth of test evidence and further assessments for DURASTEEL.
There are independent certificates to back up design documents, over and above the relevant standards.
DURASTEEL also complies with the growing number of tests demanded by big insurers, such as Lloyd's of London, US specialist FM Global and Canada's ULC.
It even meets the requirements specified for marine applications by European risk manager DNV Promat UK's fire protection manuals are already well-known as the industry standard for fire-safe construction.
Promat has offices and factories all over the world, forming a network of knowledge centres concerning fire protection and high temperature insulation.
In the UK, the company offers the country's only one-stop shop service for fire protection products.
Its other leading brands include Supalux, Masterboard and Vermiculux high-performance fire protection boards.
Further details on DURASTEEL's fit-and-forget systems and technical assistance are available from Promat UK Limited.
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