Fire safety and sustainability in buildings often share common goals, but can sometimes appear to conflict with each other. Greater awareness of the issues and dialogue between the two disciplines can help to make buildings both safer and more sustainable, as Antonia Crawford reports.
It is well known that fires are bad for the environment. As well as combustion products such as carbon dioxide and sulphur oxides, there are contaminants from firefighting activities – run-off water containing firefighting foams, for example, – and the risk of land contamination from disposing of fire damaged materials that may contain heavy metals.
In addition, there are environmental impacts from rebuilding fire damaged structures and, in some cases, of relocating key services – such as added car travel if a local school is closed due to fire.
Clearly the fire safety and sustainable development communities have a common interest in making sure that there are as few fires as possible, and that fires cause as little damage as possible. But there is sometimes a lack of scientific data, dialogue or awareness, which needs to be overcome.
BREEAM
The BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) assumes a baseline of legal compliance when starting an assessment. It does not award credits for merely meeting building regulations because BREEAM has been developed to promote excellence in the construction sector.
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| Fire safety should be given its proper place on the sustainability aganda |
Currently, BREEAM does not award credits for the inclusion of elements limiting the impact of fire (such as sprinkler systems and added passive protection) above and beyond building regulations, because their contribution to a sustainable design solution is difficult to quantify – there is not, as yet, enough scientific data to support appropriate assessment criteria.
Every item included in a building has an associated environmental impact, including fire protection systems. The environmental impact of a single system may well be outweighed by the reduction of emissions when a major fire incident takes place. Indeed, this has been quantified and documented by the US insurance company FM Global in a single test. However, to be incorporated into BREEAM it would be necessary to identify a ‘typical’ fire by purpose group and compare this with the environmental impact of installing a particular fire safety measure across the building stock.
But what is a typical warehouse fire? How do we define ‘typical’ in reference to fires – by size, by damage, by environmental impact? These are the sort of questions that are now being asked, but definitive answers do not yet exist.
Fire safety management
It is possible, however, to gain credits from BREEAM In-Use for proactive fire safety management above the minimum legal requirement.
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 there is a requirement to complete a fire risk assessment for occupied buildings, which is largely aimed at assessing fire risks to the occupants (and other relevant persons). If the assessment is extended to include fire risks to the environment, BREEAM In-Use is able to reward that.
Innovation in building
Innovative building methods developed to improve sustainability can be a source of fire safety concern. For example, innovative building methods are becoming difficult to distinguish from traditional construction and firefighters are therefore concerned about choosing the safest and most effective strategy when attending a fire. On the positive side, this is helping to raise awareness of sustainability in fire and rescue services. Guides and training courses to help building surveyors and other professionals could be readily adapted for fire service professionals.
There are also instances where innovations to improve sustainability may seem to be stifled by the prescriptive fire safety guidance in Approved Document B. For example, modern construction materials may conflict with the recommendations in Approved Document for Fire Safety (AD B). But there is flexibility in the building regulations and while the Approved Documents offer one way of meeting the regulations’ functional requirements, there are other options. Fire safety engineering solutions can help innovative building designs to meet the building regulations using an evidence-based approach, rather than following AD B recommendations.
Take ventilation, for example, an important sustainability issue. More ventilation options are often available when air flow through the building is unrestricted, but AD B recommends limiting open space by including fire rated construction to reduce the spread of fire. However, through discussions early in the design process, it may be possible to meet criteria for both by using performance-based fire engineering solutions.
This reflects the fact that building sustainability and fire safety can complement each other, rather than conflict with each other, if the two disciplines engage in meaningful dialogue early in the design process.
Awareness and engagement
By being aware of new developments in sustainability, fire safety professionals can flag up areas where more research would be helpful. John Woodcock, the 2010/11 President of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE), has made the issue of fire and sustainability the focus of his presidency. A workshop was held at BRE to engage the fire engineering community in discussions about their concerns, and to take positive steps to ensure that fire safety is given its proper place in the sustainability agenda.
Engagement between professions is being promoted through joint events. On 14 April 2011 the IFE, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technicians (CIAT) will be holding an event at BRE to promote inter-discipline consultation and joint consideration of fire and sustainability.
Antonia Crawford is marketing co-ordinator, fire and security, at BRE Global. She will be presenting a seminar on Fire and Sustainability on Tuesday 17 May at the LPCB Red Book Pavilion at International Firex
