Fire Safety Issues in Building Envelope and Facades

10th October 2020

Building Envelopes and Facades play an important role in propagation of heat, flames and smoke on upper stories. Especially in high rise and tall buildings, flames often re-enter upper story or alternate upper story through glazing and windows. The “Leap-frog Effect” of flames is a major challenge in control of fire that spreads exponentially. Use of structural glazing, extensive use of glass in envelope and use of cladding are at the focus of discussion amongst life and fire safety experts. Disaster like situations is created by high speed winds and fighting fire extremely difficult, if not impossible. The issues of fire rating of external envelope, fire retarding claddings, window sprinklers, cavity barriers, façade projections etc. are some of the mitigation measures being referred to. The Webinar is aimed to discuss challenges and measures that can be considered to mitigate risk of spread of fire through building envelopes and facades. Topics proposed to be discussed are: – Spread of fire through building envelopes / facades and Fire safety performance requirements – Vulnerability of Materials and Technologies in building envelopes / facades, flying debris Mitigation measures for fire risk through building envelopes / facades and innovations