86 INTERNATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION
A
ssuming that `sustainability' is the key word,
which interpretation should be the focus?
According to my dictionary sustainability is
described thus:
Sustainability � The ability to keep in existence,
maintain, or prolong; to support from below;
to keep from falling or sinking; to support the
spirits, vitality or resolution; to keep up a joke
or an assumed role competently; to endure or
withstand, to experience or suffer (loss or
injury); to prove or corroborate.
So what is high density sustainable housing? It
seems logical to assume that `high density housing'
means more housing units in a smaller space than
usual. Most fires already occur in normal density
housing, so does this `high density' terminology
include an increased risk from fire? For me, the
susceptibility to spread of fire is clearly increased?
Higher density means less spacing and higher
exposure to radiation from any fire than before. In
my mind, we do need to take extra measures or
extra precautions in such circumstances.
Interestingly, before we proceed, in the United
Kindom Approved Document B definitions include
the term `live/work unit' as a flat which is intended
to serve as a workplace for its occupants and for
persons who do not live on the premises. So this
suggests that high density housing could include
`high density live/work units' too and these places
may be largely unattended outside normal work-
ing hours, which is a clear opportunity for fire to
start and grow unseen.
Does fire care about sustainability?
Fire will be the consquence of an ignition source
in any building. If it has fuel to burn and oxygen
to feed the combustion process, then it will
grow until the fuel and/or oxygen is consumed or
eliminated.
A sustainable fire needs to have fuel available
for the combustion to continue. The FIGRA index
of construction product will tell us how fast the
fire can grow and if escape is still tenable. The
European classifications for Reaction to Fire of the
linings exposed to fire (classes A1, A2, B, C, D, E
and F) are based on the fire growth FIGRA index of
By Bill Parlor
Technical Officer,
Association for
Specialist Fire Protection
(ASFP)
PASSIVE FIRE PROTECTION FORUM
High density su
housing � Is fire
These days we seem to be
pre-occupied with an increasingly
excessive amount of jargon/buzz
words, such as sustainability, zero
carbon, carbon footprint
reduction, renewable energy
technologies, modern methods
of construction (MMC) , the
Calcutt Report, etc. The list goes
on, but what does it mean for
fire safety? After all, fire is
completely oblivious to all the
jargon and doesn't even speak
the language.

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