Callum MacInnes BSc (Hons), AIFireE, an engineer at WSP UK – part of a global design engineering and management consultancy group specialising in property, transport and infrastructure, industry and environment projects – and his colleague, senior engineer, Richard Rankin CEng MEng (Hons) MIFireE, discuss the importance of passive fire protection in healthcare premises.
At a time when, due particularly to the difficult financial climate, many hospitals are undergoing upgrading and refurbishment, potentially affording an ideal opportunity to ensure that proper fire compartmentation measures are in place.
Due to the financial constraints being imposed upon the healthcare sector, there has been a greater shift in recent times towards carrying out remedial works to upgrade and maintain the existing portfolio of hospital premises throughout the UK, as opposed to building new hospitals. It has been recently highlighted that, in Scotland alone, around £1 billion will be required to target current NHS properties in relation to the maintenance of existing buildings to bring them up to current standards. Such upgrade works will inevitably have a direct impact upon the building components that are in place to protect occupants from fire. Such components include passive fire protection (PFP), which is an integral part of fire safety within a building. PFP attempts to contain fires, or slow the spread, through use of fire-resistant walls, floors, and doors (among other examples). Experience has shown that there are areas within many buildings where the passive fire protection provided requires some form of repair or remedial works.
General design principles
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