Contemporary construction brings a fresh set of challenges: Fire
Contemporary construction methods are helping developers to hit housebuilding, net zero and energy efficiency targets, but this can come at a cost to the resilience of the built environment.
There is no question that contemporary construction methods, including lightweight timber frame, modular, and off-site construction, have made a significant contribution to meeting a range of government targets, not least the push for at least 300,000* new homes to be built each year.
They also have a lower carbon impact than some more traditional methods. But it is also clear that many contemporary construction methods are less resilient to fire. Timber has featured prominently in a number of sizeable residential property claims Zurich has handled in recent years. While people generally get out safely, they often do not have homes to go back into. It is important to consider the resilience of the built environment as part of the wider conversation around sustainability. There is an increased focus on the greenhouse gas emissions of steel and concrete, but buildings constructed using these materials generally perform far better in a fire event. It goes back to the whole definition of sustainability. Timber can be green if you build once, but if it goes wrong the consequences are significant.
Modular construction brings a fresh set of challenges
There are great benefits in terms of the quality of offsite manufacture and fabrication, with high precision achievable in a factory environment. However, it is not always clear how well these qualities will endure when components are moved on-site, and the modular elements are brought together, and how this could affect the finished building’s resilience to fire. These are not just challenges for the residential sector. School buildings, too, are constructed very differently to 20 or 30 years ago and can often have much less fire resilience due to the building methods and materials chosen. Zurich has experienced several significant losses in recent years. Often school buildings are designed to have 30 or 60 minutes’ fire resistance so that people can get out safely, but by the time the fire service arrives, much of the building may already have been significantly damaged by fire. Protecting and saving lives is of paramount importance and measures to achieve that would be enhanced if systems also addressed property preservation.
Looking at how buildings, as well as lives, can be protected through incident management, design, building regulations (inc. Building (Scotland) Regulations) and building management will increase the resilience of the built environment and the community it serves. The human impact of losing a building that is a home or a community asset is perhaps not as well understood as it could be. That is why, Zurich is campaigning with parliamentary stakeholders to establish a Property Protection Baseline, which would introduce minimum resilience standards in new buildings, to give them a greater chance of surviving a major fire or flood event. The potential environmental benefits of construction methods such as timber framing and modular construction cannot be ignored. However, they must be considered as part of a wider conversation around sustainability that incorporates a greater understanding of the importance of building resilience, and a greater understanding of the cost – both in human and financial terms – of losing a community asset.
Fire resilience: key takeaways
- Modular construction introduces a new element of risk, as components have to be moved onsite and brought together in a way that does not compromise the building’s performance or resilience from a fire perspective.
- There are concerns as to how the factory standards associated with many types of off-site construction can be maintained during the on-site elements of the construction, for example potential weaknesses and breaches in fire separation and compartmentation.
- Firefighting tactics have evolved, meaning there is less focus on protecting buildings .
- Zurich is campaigning for minimum standards in new buildings, to increase their resilience to fire.
*100,000 affordable new homes target in Scotland over the next decade.
