A Task Group under the auspices of the British Standards Institution was formed to develop a new approach for specifying fire resistance requirements for building design for inclusion in the new DD 9999 'Code of practice for fire safety design, construction and the use of buildings'. The task group which was made up of researchers and fire safety engineering practitioners, developed a set of fire resistance periods for each occupancy group and taking into account, the effectiveness of sprinklers in reducing fire severity where active fire protection measures may be employed. A single table of fire resistance periods are presented in a prescriptive format, which is underpinned by sound fire engineering principles coupled with a risk and consequence analysis based around a time equivalent approach. This paper provides a brief background into the analysis that was carried out and how this has lead to the present recommendations that will be incorporated in DD 9999 when it is published during the latter part of 2004. Dr B. R. Kirby, BSc, PhD, CEng, FIFire Corus Fire Engineering G. M. Newman, BSc(Eng), CEng, MIStructE, MIFireE The Steel Construction Institute N. Butterworth, BEng, MPhil, CEng, MIFireE Buro Happold (FEDRA) J. Pagan, MA(Cantab), CEng, MIFireE Warrington Fire Research Centre Dr C. English, BSc, PhD WSP
A calibration study and review has been carried out on the recently published Eurocode 1-1-2 on Fire Actions based upon a major study undertaken led by Corus Fire Engineering. Much of the Code can be supported by both recent and established analyses of experimental data and this is reflected in accepting the Normative and part of the Informative Annexes of the document. For some clauses, additional complementary information has been provided to broaden their scope of application. Where clauses in the Informative Annexes cannot be supported, alternative guidance is provided and this has been drawn from existing fire engineering design codes in the UK From this work, the author has drafted a National Annex, which will be published by the British Standards Institution for public consultation during 2004. This paper provides the technical background to the more important decisions made in drafting the National Annex. Dr B. R. Kirby, BSc, PhD, CEng, FI Fire Corus Fire Engineering,, Swinden Technology Laboratory, Rotherham