External envelope work begins with TG14 first meeting
The first meeting of TG14 – ‘Passive Fire Protection and the External Envelope’ brought together specialists from multiple disciplines, according to a blog post by Paul McSoley shared by the Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP).
Participants included designers and engineers, facade experts, penetration seals, cavity barrier and fixing specialists, plus testing, certification and installation representatives.
The day opened with a call from Mike Ward, who said the next logical step towards industry-wide competence in passive fire protection sits within the void between the faced and the building structure.
Discussion centred on definitions, typologies and testing interfaces
Following work on the ASFP Green Book – fire doors and the ASFP Clear Book – fire resistant glazing, Hannah Mansell told the group that facades are a natural area to simplify and that a similar approach should be applied to external systems as the Design Guide for internal passive fire protection nears completion.
The discussion was framed around how a facade should be defined and what passive fire protection means in that context.
Mansell said: “While I recognise I am not a facade expert, part of my objective for the first session was to break down facades into typologies.
“For example, is the facade external to the building structure, or is it recessed within it?
“If so, what are the next natural steps in identifying the principles of each one?
“To go even further, how many common approaches of facade are there in each location, and how do we determine the approaches for how passive fire protection is applied from a cavity barrier, a door, a window or even a flue discharge?
“What about the wall junctions from the internal compartments that separate room space, and what type of building safety risks could they contain?”
McSoley wrote that the ASFP Purple Book – fire-resisting partitions approach to internal substrates may provide comparators for the work on external substrates.
He wrote that passive fire protection systems are either applied as a weight to the wall substrate or supported from the slab, with installation usually specific to partition-type systems or rigid structures.
He added that the difference with external walls is that they become a non-standard supporting construction, and that testing and determining interfaces will be a key part of TG14’s work.
Next meeting to compile feedback and map facade types
McSoley wrote that the group’s next steps will involve breaking system types down and applying the colour book approach to external substrates.
He added that the next meeting should be better placed to compile feedback from the day and identify facade types and common interface principles that form a whole system.