ASFP backs passive fire protection research project

The Association for Specialist Fire Protection is collaborating with the BRE Trust in a research project designed to develop a greater understanding of the contribution of different types of passive fire protection systems to the overall resilience of a building in the event of a fire.

The project will consider a range of factors such as the cost of installation of fire protection systems in ‘commercial buildings’, the cost of the overall impact of fires associated with those buildings, including assessment of, for example, environmental impacts, societal impacts, property damage and business interruption.

The project will require the collation of data on the risk of fire within different building types and information related to the types of fire protection measures that are present, to include:

• Identification of the types of passive fire protection that are in widespread use and work through the different types of product.
• What are the embodied energy costs etc. in producing, delivering, installing and maintaining the different types of product?
• Impact of fire on the environment in terms of extent of damage, carbon dioxide, water run off/pollution and the cost of dealing with these issues, as well as the impact on social aspects such as unemployment, relocation, displacement, family stress factors.
• What is the impact of a fire on the product – reinstatement, replacement, demolition etc.
• Evaluation of the cost of rebuilding compared with reinstatement including the timescales.
• Examples where good passive fire protection has prevented significant fire spread within a building and to others.
• Costs of passive fire protection from cradle to end of life including identification of a realistic life of PFP.

The ASFP is welcoming contributions to this research project. For further information about how to contribute to this project, please contact the ASFP CEO before 30 January 2016 at wilf.butcher@asfp.org.uk