Compartmentation

[The Colonel]

I have been approached by a client and been asked to undertake a survey of compartmentation on one of thier buildings. The building is a modern 4 storey college building full of classrooms and ancilary offices, attached is an older building that is due to be demolised and replaced by a new build. During and after work the anticpated evacuation is proposed as phased due to number of floors and possible maximun number of occupants based on all rooms being occupied. the demolision and build will affect the neams of escape which is a stair at each end of the building. Building approx 90x 20m

The reason for the survey is to ascertain any areas of floors etc that will not meet compartment requirements particually where services etc have been installed. Should this be a job for a for structural enginner as a posed to a person trained in fire safety and risk assessment. My initial reaction was ok based on my FS training and experiance but am now having 2nd , 3rd thoughts.

Your views would be welcome because at the moment I feel this should be undertaken by a different skill and knowledge set.

[wee brian]

I doubt if a structural engineer will be any better qualified than you to check the compartmentation.

One of the key requirements for any professional is to know when they are not competent for a particular task and then own up to it.

If this is outside your area of competence then you could sub it out to a more suitable specialist. Ceratinly the big test/cert firms - BRE or Warrington - would do this and I expect that there are others too. Perhaps a call to the ASFP would be a start.

You could get an installer to have a look but I expect they will recommend ripping it all out and starting again.

[CivvyFSO]

I doubt if a structural engineer will be any better qualified than you to check the compartmentation.

Agreed.

Colonel, BS5588 part 9 gives some recommendations on vents etc passing through compartment walls. Smaller services are covered in ADB.

[Chris Houston]

I'd say a fire safety person would be best qualified and it is who I recommend when I tell clients to do this.

[wee brian]

But there are lots of different people with different skills and experience that work in Fire Safety. Not all of them will recognise correct/dodgy firestopping and construction.

Mind you, we are all capable of spotting where there are holes in things......

[The Colonel]

Being a resonably modern building no more tha 10 years it shouldnt be to bad, the horizontal compartmentation should be reasonable but the IT guys have been about. I like most can spot holes etc and may take the odd sample of any fire stopping to make sure its not the combustible type. False ceilings are a favorite place for the IT guy.

What the designers of the new build are interested in is where additional work on compartmentation is required so that they can factor in a cost, I for one am not afraid to hold my hands up if not up to the job.

Your thoughts are making me think again and more psoitive about the job.

[nearlythere]

But there are lots of different people with different skills and experience that work in Fire Safety. Not all of them will recognise correct/dodgy firestopping and construction.

Mind you, we are all capable of spotting where there are holes in things......

The holes are the easy bit. The trick is knowing where to expect to find them.

[The Colonel]

Expect to find them everywhere

[colin todd]

Best person is a qualified building surveyor.