Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Partially insulating glasses:
➤
Intumescent laminated glass
➤
Radiation control glasses:
➤
Coated monolithic ‘soda-lime’ glass.
The glazing system requirements for each of these 
glasses are very different and any change in the glass 
type without a change in the glazing system has the 
Figure 9.13
Example of a building with an all glass exterior
Figure 9.12
Typical building materials

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Fire protection in buildings
181
potential to reduce the performance as low as 10% of 
the required level in many cases, i.e. 3 minutes instead 
of 30 minutes. It is critical that the method of installa-
tion and the material and design of the construction 
being glazed fully complies with the glass manufactur-
er’s recommendations.
Steel sandwich panels
Lightweight sandwich panels are being increasingly used 
in buildings; they are often constructed with combustible 
plastic core material which is included to provide ther-
mal insulation. Lightweight sandwich panels combine 
the strength of the external material with the insulation 
properties of the inner core. Therefore they have become 
popular as a building material that enables simple and 
rapid erection. Unfortunately this type of panel has been 
implicated in the rapid fi re spread and early collapse of 
a number of large buildings. It is crucial that any cavities 
or concealed spaces that may be created when using 
sandwich panels are adequately protected against con-
cealed, internal fi re spread.
9.4.5 Concealed 
spaces
Concealed spaces in buildings provide easy routes 
for fi re to escape both horizontally and vertically. Fire 
spreading in the concealed spaces in a building presents 
signifi cant risks due to the fact that it can develop 
spread without being detected. Concealed spaces may 
also allow a fi re to move through fi re compartmenta-
tion. Access to concealed spaces is always, by their 
very nature, limited, therefore, even if a fi re is discovered 
before it has developed suffi ciently to affect other parts 
of the building, the fi re service is often faced with dif-
fi culties in bringing it under control.
Concealed spaces are found in numerous locations 
in a building including:
➤
Roof 
spaces
➤
False 
ceilings
➤
Service 
risers
➤
Behind decorative panelling
➤
Cavity 
walls
➤
Floors
➤
Raised 
fl oors for computer suites.
It is for those reasons that cavities in buildings should 
always be provided with barriers that resist the con-
cealed spread of fi re (see Fig. 9.14). It is particularly 
important that cavity barriers are provided at those loca-
tions where the cavity passes through a compartment 
wall or fl oor.
wall with cavity
wall with cavity
wall with cavity
compartment floor
cavity
barrier
cavity barrier
cavity barrier
cavity barrier
a. SECTION
fire-resisting wall
fire-resisting door
c. PLAN
floor
suspended ceiling
fire-resisting
wall (but not a
compartment wall)
alternatively if it is a
compartment wall carry
wall up to underside of floor
b. SECTION
d. PLAN
Figure 9.14
The provision of cavity barriers

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