Pipe closures are designed to preserve the integrity of a fire resistant compartment where various cross link plastic pipes (PEX), plastic pipes, plastic trunking, steel pipes with insulation or plastic pipes with insulation pass through floors or walls. Unlike metal or cable service penetrations, these service penetrations soften and collapse under heating, therefore, some means of preventing the passage of fire is required. This is achieved by closing across the void created when the pipe collapses. There are variations in design of pipe closures and the four principal methods of pipe closure are pipe collars, pipe wraps, Insulated Fire Sleeves, and high pressure exerting sealants. All systems contain an intumescent compound which expands on exposure to fire, rapidly exerting pressure upon the pipe or insulation. The service penetrations, which will have softened due to the heat, collapse under this pressure creating a constriction. Some pipe closures incorporate a mechanical device which may or may not include an intumescent compound. Pipe collars incorporate an outer casing which acts as a restraint for the intumescent material, enabling the collar to be either surface fixed to the separating element or incorporated within it. Pipe wraps have no casing and hence must be located within the separating element, which acts as a restraint for the intumescent. Insulated fire sleeves have the intumescent material embedded within the insulation. High pressure exerting sealant contain the same intumescent compound but in a paste format that cures on exposure to air.

Pipe collars, pipe wraps, insulated fire sleeves and high pressure exerting sealants can be used where plastic pipes (PEX), plastic trunking, steel pipes with insulation or plastic pipes with insulation pass through fire resistant elements such as floors or walls.

Pipe wraps are fitted into an oversize hole in the separating element, surrounding the pipe. If there is a fire risk on both sides of a compartment wall or floor two wraps may be required. The position of the pipe wrap within the wall or floor can be critical e.g. many pipe wraps for soil pipes passing through floors need to be positioned at the bottom of the opening in the floor to activate properly. Similarly, a pipe wrap tested in a rigid wall may not work when tested in a flexible wall without suitable framing out. Specifiers and installers should check that the supporting fire test evidence is applicable for the end use application envisaged.

A fire curtain stands as a critical safeguard against the perilous spread of fire and smoke within a building. Crafted from robust, heat-resistant materials such as fiberglass and aramid, these ingenious devices are meticulously engineered to swiftly respond to fire alarm signals. Upon activation, they descend automatically, swiftly creating an impenetrable barrier against the encroaching flames and smoke. This proactive measure effectively compartmentalises the building, containing the fire within a designated area and preventing its rapid escalation.

The dangers of smoke inhalation during a fire cannot be overstated. Smoke contains toxic gases and particles that pose severe health risks, including respiratory issues, suffocation, and even death. Moreover, smoke obscures vision, hindering evacuation efforts and complicating rescue operations. In such dire circumstances, fire curtains play a crucial role in mitigating these risks by effectively limiting the spread of smoke within a building. By swiftly deploying in response to fire alarms, fire curtains create a barrier that contains smoke to a specific area, preventing it from engulfing larger spaces and reducing the risk of inhalation for occupants. This containment facilitates clearer evacuation routes and aids firefighters in locating and extinguishing the source of the fire more efficiently. Fire curtains thus serve as vital tools in safeguarding lives and minimising the devastating impact of smoke-related hazards during a fire emergency.

These deploy from ceiling to floor, limiting fire and smoke spread between different zones in a building. They need to be robust to withstand heat and impact.

Installed in elevator shafts, they prevent smoke from entering elevators and spreading between floors.

Used to create smoke compartments in large open areas, such as atriums.

Designed to protect escape routes and prevent smoke from infiltrating critical areas.

Compartmentation plays a vital role in building fire safety by dividing structures into distinct sections that can contain and control the spread of fire. This method employs fire-resistant materials and implements protective features such as fire doors and cavity barriers. The goal is to enhance the ability to contain fires within their specific compartments of origin, thereby preventing them from spreading to other areas.

As described in Approved Document B, a fire compartment is a section of a building—whether it consists of single or multiple rooms, spaces, or storeys—designed to prevent the spread of fire to other sections within the same building or to neighbouring buildings. This is achieved by constructing walls and floors that can resist fire for a specified duration, typically between 30 to 120 minutes.

These fire-resistant barriers must perform effectively for the entire duration of the fire resistance period they are rated for, ensuring that they do not crack or develop openings as this could let flames, smoke, or hot gases pass through. Special attention is required for any openings in these barriers, such as doors, windows, service penetrations, and ductwork, to ensure they do not compromise the integrity of the compartment. By maintaining robust compartmentation, buildings can significantly improve their fire safety and ensure a higher level of protection for occupants and property.

Compartmentation is a key fire safety strategy designed to contain fires within specific sections of a building, providing more time for occupants to evacuate and for fire services to respond. It achieves this by using fire-resistant materials and protective measures such as fire doors, ensuring that fire and smoke do not spread beyond designated compartments.

The purposes of compartmentation are twofold: life safety and property protection. For life safety, it safeguards escape routes, including corridors, staircases, and protected lobbies, allowing safe evacuation and reducing risks to fire services. This approach is vital in buildings like healthcare facilities or residential blocks, where strategies like ‘defend in place’ or progressive horizontal evacuation are employed to minimise the need for full evacuations.

For property protection, compartmentation confines fires to their origin, which is crucial for areas with high-value assets or special hazards, such as server rooms or industrial plant rooms. It also separates different occupancies within a building, like residential units above retail spaces, preventing fire spread between these areas.

Guidelines in Approved Document B detail fire resistance requirements and maximum compartment sizes for various buildings. Sometimes, automatic suppression systems like sprinklers are used to further control fire growth. Overall, compartmentation significantly enhances building safety and resilience during fires.

The most relevant and up-to-date compartmentation guidance can be found in Approved Document B. This document provides a prescribed route to compliance with the building regulation requirements regarding fire safety in and around buildings. To give you an indication of what the document covers about compartmentation (in non-residential buildings), we’ve listed some of the main points below:

• The minimum period of fire resistance for a compartment wall or floor can vary based on a building’s specific purpose, its height above ground level, as well as the presence of sprinkler systems. A comprehensive overview of minimum fire resistance periods can be found here.
• Any wall that is common to two or more buildings should be constructed as a compartment wall. These should extend to the full height of a building in a ‘continuous vertical plane.’
• Compartment walls and floors should be used to separate areas of a building that serve different purposes (e.g. storage or commercial operations or between a shop and a flat above).
• If a compartment wall is installed between two adjoining buildings, the only permitted openings are for fully compliant fire doors and pipes. It is imperative that these pipes are appropriately firestopped, regardless of their diameter.
• While compartments should ideally be completely separated, there may be instances where they are connected by beams, joists or rafters. If so, any openings caused by these structural elements must be appropriately firestopped.
• Construction teams may look to install fire-resistant ceilings and cavity barriers as part of a compartmentation strategy. If so, these must be able to hold their structural integrity for a minimum of 30 minutes in the event of a fire.

Of course, specific requirements can be required above and beyond this, depending on the type of building and the presence of hazardous materials. With so many variables to consider, the interpretation of building regulations dealing with compartmentation requires specialist expertise.

There are compartmentation regulations covering everything from dwelling houses to flats and non-residential buildings. In every instance, the time frame during which compartmentation should contain fires is specified, which is usually 30 to 60 minutes. Despite the varied requirements for different types of buildings, the main objectives of compartmentation remain the same: containing the spread of fire to protect life, both that of the occupants and the attending firefighters, and property.

When constructing a building with voids and cavities, it’s crucial to incorporate cavity barriers to effectively halt the unseen spread of fire within concealed cavities. These barriers are typically constructed from a non-combustible material such as Stone Mineral Wool with a metallic foil outer coating.

In the case of rainscreen façade systems where an air gap needs to be maintained within the system to prevent a build-up of damp, full-fill cavity barriers may not be used at horizontal compartment lines. At these points an open-state cavity barrier may be installed. These cavity barriers will also typically be a non-combustible mineral wool, but fitted with an intumescent facing material designed to expand upon exposure to heat or flames, effectively sealing off the cavity. This ensures that fire and smoke cannot permeate between different compartments within the structure. Cavity barriers play a pivotal role in enhancing fire safety measures, safeguarding both property and lives.

Cavity barriers are essential components in building construction used to prevent the spread of fire and smoke within a structure. They are typically made from stone mineral wool and may also include intumescent materials that expand when exposed to heat or fire. These barriers are strategically installed within voids and cavities of a building to effectively seal off these spaces, thereby inhibiting the movement of flames and smoke between different compartments. By containing the fire within its origin area, cavity barriers help to minimise damage caused by the uncontrolled spread of fire and increase the overall fire safety of the building.

What Is Fire Stopping?

Services

Fire stopping regulations require individuals to meet specific compliance standards according to their roles. For instance, BS 7671:2018 places the onus on the person installing electrical systems, while the Building Fire Safety Act designates this responsibility to the developer, principal designer and principal contractor in new residential constructions.

The aim of these regulations is to foster a collaborative approach to fire stopping, ensuring that everyone involved, from architects and designers to contractors and developers, fulfils their responsibilities. Enforcement is carried out by various authorities, such as the local Fire and Rescue Service and the Building Safety Regulator.

Once a building is in use, a designated person must oversee ongoing fire safety compliance. This person’s duties include working with residents to identify and mitigate fire risks, arranging professional fire risk assessments, and implementing necessary changes and maintenance to uphold fire safety standards throughout the building’s life.

Starting in October 2024, the Building Fire Safety Act will apply to most buildings and structures, excluding private homes. Significant aspects include transferring financial liability for non-compliance to landlords and developers, establishing a fire safety manager role for buildings taller than 7 storeys to oversee fire stopping solutions, and mandating registration for building inspectors and control approvers to enforce compliance with the Building Safety Regulator.

These regulations are crucial for managing health and safety on construction projects, covering all buildings, new builds, and renovations. They provide guidance for each of the seven duty holders involved: client, domestic client, principal designer, designer, principal contractor, contractor, and worker. Responsibilities include minimising fire safety risks, sharing information on fire stopping measures among duty holders, and engaging workers to maintain a safe worksite.

Introduced in March 2020, this act addresses significant loopholes in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order of 2005. It mandates fire stopping in all residential buildings, not just high-rises, and empowers fire services to address non-compliance issues related to external walls and individual doors leading to common areas. Additionally, it imposes a legal obligation on the responsible person to procure a fire risk assessment.

These regulations oversee the materials, installation, and performance of electrical systems concerning fire stopping. They ensure wiring systems maintain integrity during fires. Appendix 13 details strategies for preserving effective escape routes which, alongside fire stopping solutions, maximise safe evacuation time.

Our team of Fire Stopping technicians are highly skilled and passionate about making your project safe and compliant. We strive to provide experienced and bespoke solutions to your premises, leaving you safe in the knowledge that Global has gotten the job right.

Leading the way in providing the complete approach to fire safety, passive fire protection, compartmentation, and fire engineering with 2D Floor Plans and 3D LiDAR Scanning.

The digital scanning platform lets Global turn any space into an accurate and immersive digital twin which can be used to design, build, operate, and promote any space.

Global Group have an inhouse LiDAR scanning facility which enables us to utilise Matterport to its full capability. It is used to undertake surveys of existing buildings, geotag locations of remedial work requirements which fail to comply with building regs and enables the team back at the office to view each site as a team and combine expertise.

• 3D Mapping and FRAs
• 3D Mapping and PAS9980
• 2D & 3D Fire Mapping Latent Defects / Legacy Survey for Fire Safety
• Pre construction fire survey
• Post construction fire survey
• Golden Thread Fire Mapping

Using the Matterport scanner allows users to remotely ‘walk’ through their site. Our clients count on virtual walkthroughs for inspection purposes, validation of as-built conditions, remote monitoring and latent defect claims. The scanner also give users the ability to remotely measure length and depth to a high accuracy.

A Damper is exceedingly effective at providing sustainable barriers which can withstand fire and smoke for extensive periods. This means that they are exceptional at saving lives and securing enough evacuation time for any individuals within a premises.

For Dampers to work as effectively as possible in the prevention of the spread of a fire, they must be installed and maintained by experienced technicians. This means following manufacturers guidelines and setting out to meet third-party accreditation standards. Dampers will spend most of its time open, therefore it is important they are inspected and repaired regularly, and in some cases replaced altogether, to ensure that they will still close off the compartment should they be triggered.

Damper Installation

We understand the importance of Dampers being installed to manufacturers’ details and third party accreditation standards, which is why we supply and fit Dampers with an incredibly skilled team.

Damper Remediation

If you’ve recently had a Fire Risk Assessment or Damper Survey and have been left with issues in need of remediation, Global can help! Our Dampers team can work to rectify any requirements outlined in an inspection to bring your property back up to compliant standards.

Damper Surveys

As part of our Complete Approach to Fire Safety, Global’s Damper Team can survey, remediate install and maintain your dampers. We provide exhaustive Damper surveys to ensure you have the best scope of requirements to bring your project back to a compliant level.

Part B of the Building Regulations outlines fire safety requirements. Specifically, Approved Document B provides guidance on fire safety in buildings.

It emphasizes the need for fire and smoke dampers to protect ventilation openings. When installing fire dampers, ensure compliance with this document.

When purchasing fire dampers, look for those compliant with BS EN 1366-2:2015. This standard covers fire resistance tests for service installations, including fire dampers.

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) publishes the DW145 guide. It offers good practice recommendations for the installation of fire and smoke dampers1.
Remember that if a fire damper is found to be faulty, it must be repaired or replaced promptly. Regular testing and maintenance help to minimise the need for extensive remedial works