Go Beyond for fire safety

Maintaining a high level of fire safety is a key concern for every Housing Association. It impacts all areas of practice, from the initial design of buildings and specification of products, through to the quality of their installation and on to the long-term maintenance and improvement of building stock – recorded in the ‘golden thread of information’. However, with new legislation and standards being introduced at a rapid pace, and requirements increasingly diverging within England, Scotland and Wales, it can be challenging for project teams to ensure their work is in line with the Building Regulations and best practice.

In this environment, passive fire protection manufacturers have a vital role to play. They must not only provide tested and certified solutions, but deliver these with the tools, services and guidance that will enable project teams to create buildings that meet the highest safety and performance standards.

n Product development

At a basic level, developers and their project partners need access to fire safety products and solutions that not only achieve compliance now, but that have been developed to ensure ongoing safety for the lifetime of the building.

This has been a driving force for Siderise to keep at the forefront of passive fire safety innovation. This started in 1991, when we developed vertically fibred Lamella insulation using patented technology which enabled a robust, pre-compressed solution that enables excellent fit, best-in-class fire performance, longevity, and ease of installation. This technology is now used throughout our passive fire protection solutions, which are comprehensively fire tested to international and national standards.

It is also important for passive fire protection manufacturers to be ready to meet the emerging, real-life requirements of their customers and find solutions for common issues. For example, conversations with our customers highlighted that using stainless steel cavity trays packed out with non-combustible insulation to meet the new Building Regulations requirements was time consuming and required expensive and complex installations on site. This extended programme timescales and introduced greater opportunity of installation errors which could undermine fire performance.

In response, we developed the Siderise CT Cavity Tray. This combines an aluminium tray and insulation in a single engineered product which can be simply cut to fit with a cutting knife or saw – eliminating the need for specialist equipment and power tools. In addition to providing a faster, more practical solution of installers, the single component solution could also be tested as complete solution under EN 13501-1, achieving a compliant Euroclass rating of A2-s1, d0 along with further testing for heat aging and watertightness. For added peace of mind, and to support compliance and building control processes, we also sought and achieved BBA certification and approval from the NHBC, LABM and Premier Guarantee.

n Proving performance

Product testing is the only reliable way to determine the performance of passive fire protection products, and therefore their suitability for the application they are intended for. This is why Siderise opened its own £1million Innovation Centre. Operational from January 2023, the centre features a specialist fire test furnace, enabling testing of products to any published fire test curve, including EN, ASTM, UL and ISO standards. This will allow us to not only conduct our own research and quality control testing inhouse, but to expand our bespoke solution offering to meet specific project needs.

n Technical excellence at every stage

Beyond developing products which meet your needs and deliver reliably excellent performance, manufacturers have a crucial role to play in equipping their customers with the right information necessary to ensure accurate applications, right from the initial concept design, through to long-term tracking and maintenance.

Technical services teams not only offer guidance on the best solutions for a project or to overcome an issue at the design stage but can also provide valuable support to construction teams too. Our Technical Services team provides customers with free, detailed advice and assistance from highly trained engineers. With an enormous amount of test data at their fingertips, they offer various technical support, including specification advice, detailing, engineering judgements and in-depth CPD seminars.

However, even the best product’s performance can be undermined by poor installation. Manufacturers that offer site services can help to ensure correct installation through training, assessment, and auditing. This support can also reduce the risk of contracting teams changing the specification to products they are more familiar with, but which may not meet the project’s performance targets.

Siderise Site Services team offer on-site installation training to ensure your contractors are fully up to speed with best practice. The team were the first in the industry to have its Product Installation Training delivery method certified to ISO 29993: 2017 (Learning services outside formal education — Service requirements) and in the last year delivered training to over 2,000 people and conducted over 1,350 site visits. This offering also includes free site inspections.

Proper auditing and reporting of installations can help to ensure that the product information and any inspection reports are then passed on to the building owner or operator at completion, ensuring they have an accurate record of what has been installed on their building and maintaining that vital ‘Golden Thread.’ n Partners for a better built environment

In addition to offering in-person inspections, we’ve also embraced new technology to allow installers to track and monitor the quality of the work with the Siderise Inspection App. This offers a simple way for installers to record the quality of installation of our standard firestop, cavity barrier and acoustic barrier systems before they are covered up by the building facade. It allows contractors to send photographic evidence of installations directly to Siderise technical engineers for assessment. The report generated by the app provides a visual record of hidden elements of a construction, including how it was installed, providing the all-important ‘golden thread’ of information which can be passed to the building owner and used to inform future maintenance or building work.

There is no room for compromise when it comes to the fire safety of our buildings, and to achieve the best results, this means all parts of the construction chain need to come together. Siderise is committed to Go Beyond® the basic requirements, supporting you at each step with innovative solutions which are rigorously tested and backed with industry-leading technical support to ensure your homes meet the highest quality standards.

For more information and guidance on passive fire protection, please visit www.siderise.com

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