Fire-safety best with block and brick construction

A Traditional Housing Bureau product story

Edited by the Buildingtalk editorial team Oct 3, 2005

From a fire-safety perspective, block and brick construction methods offer a more favourable reaction to fire throughout the entire structure.

An explosive report from the Technical University of Vienna confirms what seems obvious: wood burns! However, the findings of the report reinforce the necessity for housebuyers to examine the construction type of their prospective new homes.

As part of a two-year research project, Professor Ulrich Schneider examined the fire safety of different types of construction, including concrete block and timber frame homes.

A high proportion of Britain's homes are built using naturally fire-safe concrete blocks.

But in recent years some of our large building contractors have been using timber frame and prefabricated building methods as an apparently quicker form of housebuilding especially for showhomes where they want them up as fast as possible.

The difference is imperceptible from the exterior, as homes can be finished in similar manners - with a brick exterior skin, or rendered, or even timber clad.

But what lies beneath the attractive outer skin is crucial to fire safety.

Every building carries a potential risk, but those can be minimised.

Professor Schneider examined concrete and timber frame buildings.

The findings include: Timber frame buildings in principle produce a greater amount of energy during a fire than concrete buildings, and a more intense growth in temperature and fumes In timber frame construction, penetrations created for or by electrical installations and pipework can cause fire to spread rapidly throughout the entire building Timber frame buildings have been destroyed by fire starting from a slow smoulder - known as the spontaneous combustion of wood.

Test results in the research offer clear proof that the possibility does exist for wood to ignite spontaneously at low temperatures.

A comparison between multi-storey residential buildings made from non-flammable concrete and brick, and flammable timber frame structures has shown that, from a fire-safety perspective, block and brick construction methods offer a more favourable reaction to fire throughout the entire structure, along with a considerably higher level of safety than that found in flammable timber frame structures.