Mark of quality

摘要

Very few people appreciate how quickly fire and smoke can spread through a building. Rapid fire spread, involving a very quick increase in temperature and the development of large volumes of smoke, is possible within a matter of minutes of a fire starting. Left unchecked, a fire will continue to grow and exploit weaknesses in the building structure. Once a fire has engulfed a building, it has the potential to spread to adjacent buildings through radiated heat. The need to limit fire and smoke spread, to protect the lives of people living and working in and around buildings, has been recognised for many years and is legislated for in Part B (Approved Document B [ADB]) of Schedule 1 of the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended). Sections B2, B3 and B4 outline how the construction should limit fire growth (B2); contain fire growth to the room of origin and provide structural stability (B3); and prevent fire spreading over the envelope of the building and travelling to adjacent buildings (B4). A significant proportion of the materials, products and structures used for constructing buildings must therefore be considered in terms of fire performance, to satisfy the requirements of the building regulations.This'built-in'fire performance is broadly defined as passive fire protection.