Spec Finish

Feature The Draft Building Safety Bill is set to make the biggest changes in 40 years to the way buildings are designed, specified, procured and constructed, by altering the process and introducing checks at key stages to ensure that the requirements of the Building Regulations have been met. The new Bill will help achieve a clearer and more consistent system that ensures that individuals’ safety remains the priority, not only throughout the initial construction process, but the entire lifecycle of the building. Mick Hill Mick Hill, Lead Technical Manager at Profab Access. www.profabaccess.com ENSURING FIRE SAFETY THROUGH COMPLIANT PRODUCT SPECIFICATION 22 www.thefis.org H ERE Mick Hill, Lead Technical Manager at Profab Access, explores the importance of providing a ‘golden thread’ of digital building information when specifying bi-directionally fire-resistant riser doors, to ensure the highest standards in compliance and performance. Just last year, an investigation from Inside Housing into the replacement of faulty fire doors by councils across the UK, found that across 98 councils, around 10% (approximately 33,000 fire doors) were unlikely to satisfy the 30-minute fire resistant standard. While research such as this demonstrates just how far those responsible for specifying fire doors (or offering alternatives) still need to go with regard to understand fire performance test data, the release of the Draft Building Safety Bill, along with the initial Hackitt Report and subsequent amendments to Building Regulations Approved Document B (Fire Safety), marks the first significant step in helping to achieve a safer and more transparent environment for individuals to live and work in. Know your legislation In order to successfully meet the requirements outlined within the new guidance, professionals should take a proactive approach to the specification of passive fire safety components by selecting building products that have clear, independent performance data and are supported by third party certification. This includes having a clear understanding of the fire testing that each product has undergone and the legislation it complies with. Considering steel riser doors, architects should specify solutions that have been fire tested to When specifying riser doors, use bi-directionally fire tested models to ensure a safe and compliant installation to prevent of the spread of fire throughout a multi-storey building