Fire Safety Hub

Balcony Fires – What’s Happened?

Following the tragic fire at Grenfell on 14th June 2017, the government conducted a complete review of the claddings used on high rise residential buildings.

The result of this review was the introduction of significant changes to the relevant legislation including a combustible cladding ban

How Is the Industry Responding to New Fire Safety Challenges in Residential Construction?

Is Sapphire seeing people choosing to go beyond compliance when it comes to fire safety?

We’re seeing that developers are more often choosing to go beyond just compliance with industry standards when it comes to fire safety. There’s an aspiration to have buildings that don’t just meet standards but exceed them. To assist in this, our balcony anchors all come with a StubGuard® as standard – the StubGuard acts as a fire-stopping measure, attached directly to the anchor.

Have the requirements for façade fire-stopping changed post-Grenfell and what are the critical points?

Façade fire safety compliance has changed a great deal since the tragedy at Grenfell Tower in 2017. There’s now a requirement for façade elements to be completely non-combustible. We comply with that by using A1 S1 D0 materials, from the aluminium we construct the balconies with to the decking we install.

Laminated glass is a topical but painful point in facades, why is it controversial and what is the connection with fire spread?

Since the change in building regulations post-Grenfell, we’ve seen laminated glass be inadvertently banned due to a lack of exception on the combustible materials list. Certain types of glass do come with a risk of shattering if exposed to severe heat, but laminated glass will not shatter by design due to the PVB interlayer, making it safe for use as a balcony balustrade. We have worked with the British government to try and rectify this.

What’s the impact on facades and mandated competency in line with the new Building Safety Regulator?

Competency is, as of the 6th of April 2024, mandatory and required by the Building Safety Regulator. This comes with a requirement for everyone in the construction industry, not just those on-site or in design, to prove their competency to a certain level every year. This will, the industry hopes, improve the perception of safety both within the industry and outside of it, making everyone aware of gaps in their own competency and of others.

Current Regulations & Compliance

Summary of relevant documents:

1. Approved Document B Building regulation in England covering fire safety matters within and around buildings
2. BS 9991: 2015 Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings – Code of practice
3. BS 9999:2017 Fire safety in the design, management and use of all buildings – Code of Practice
4. BS EN 13501-1:2019 Fire Classification of Construction Products and Building Elements. Classification using data from reaction to fire tests.

Less Common Guidance:

1. BS8579 the guide to the design of balconies and terraces. New standard released August 2020. It defines the difference between open and enclosed balconies.
2. Policy D12 in the London Plan on reducing risk to life, minimising the risk of fire spread and providing a suitable means to evacuate and escape.
3. NFCC policies and guidance 
4. British Standard EN 1365-5: 2004 Fire resistance test for loadbearing elements- balconies and walkways.
5. BS EN 1363-1 Fire resistance tests, including revision draft.
6. C Holland, M Shipp and D Crowder, Fire safety issues with balconies, BRE Global Ltd 2016.
7. Centre for window and cladding technology, Standard for systemised building envelopes, Part 6, Fire performance, Sept 2008.
8. Fire stopping: 4th edition, published by Association for Specialist Fire Protection.

Regulations differ for Scotland & Northern Ireland, ensure compliance with regional requirements. For example, Scottish Mandatory Handbook.

How do Sapphire foster a culture of safety testing?

Sapphire are, and have always been, strong advocates for safety testing. This can come in many forms. Having a research & development centre on-site in our head office allows us to rigorously test any product innovations we’re working on before they’re approved for release to sales. We also partner with various third-party organisations across the UK, Ireland and globally to perform fire safety tests, such as the fire tests we performed in Belfast in 2023.

To better understand the protective effect of the balcony in the event of a fire, we commissioned balcony fire safety testing at the Efectis test centre in Belfast. For one of these tests, a full-size balcony Cassette® was constructed to fit the furnace size. This was fitted with class-A-rated decking, and a variety of soffit panels were fitted so the relative effect of these could be monitored. You can learn more by visiting the event page below.

Sapphire advocates the use of aluminium soffits on all balconies. However, where soffits have been omitted or are perforated (for architectural or cost reasons) there is clear evidence to suggest the use of class A decking should be considered to reduce the risk of rapid balcony fire development.

You can learn more about what we’re doing by attending a 15-minute Balcony Safety CPD Presentation.

Further details can be found in our recently published balcony safety whitepaper. Request your copy in the Whitepaper section below.

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