FIRE SAFETY PRINCIPLES IMPLICATIONS
Principle Implication
Only those who can evidence relevant education, knowledge and experience should be instructed to develop the fire safety strategy for a mass timber building. The resulting strategy may impose constraints on how the building is used and operated throughout its life.
0
There can be no reduction in the level of safety achieved by a mass timber building to facilitate its construction.
1(A)
Provisions such as sprinklers, automatic fire detection and passive fire protection should not generally be assumed to be more reliable or more effective in a mass timber building relative to a non-combustible building. If an argument is to be made in support of greater reliability or effectiveness, specific evidence for a mass timber building should be developed and should be demonstrated as compatible with the case in hand. Sprinklers should not be considered in the fire safety strategy for the purpose of, eg increasing travel distances, reducing exit widths, increasing compartment sizes, increasing the amount of permissible unprotected area, reducing separating distances between buildings or permitting reductions in structural fire performance.
1(B)
2(A)
2(B)
As above, but in the case of fire brigade intervention.
It should be demonstrated that the timber structure does not reduce the ASET for occupants in the enclosure of fire origin. If this cannot be demonstrated, reaction-to-fire treatments or encapsulation are likely to be required to the combustible structural elements.
3
Non-fire protected openings between floors, eg atria, are unlikely to be permitted. The external wall must be detailed in a manner so as to prevent vertical fire spread. This will likely require a combination of fire resisting spandrels, projections and glazing owing to the likely flame heights.
4(A)
As sprinklers must be considered as a redundancy measure, this will likely affect the permissible unprotected area to the external wall or the proximity of a mass timber building to the relevant boundary. Alternatively, greater internal compartmentation may be required.
4(B)
The fire resistance required of fire separations, compartmentation and fire stopping may need to be greater to compensate for the potential increase in fire severity. Specific provisions, such as evacuation lifts, will likely need to be included for those who might require assistance.
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