Pilkington Fire-Resistant Glass Tried, Tested, Trusted

The move away from prescriptive rules rooted in history is illustrated, for example, in the UK by
the principles followed by the new standard BS 9999: 2008 (Code of practice for fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings) and the reminders of personal responsibility and competency captured in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO). Under the FSO, responsibility for ensuring that appropriate fire precautions and protection measures are in place rests with the individuals who carry responsibility for the building and its occupants. Contractors carrying out refurbishment and replacement work in the building should also comply.
A risk-based approach requires more information than has become customary with rule-based prescription. Risk judgments require confidence in product performance, plus assurance concerning reliability and consistency of product function. That requires more attention to the range and validity of furnace test data, including the extent of application. One or only a few formalised standard furnace tests are not enough. Evaluation of risks in building fires requires a broader evaluation. A “Test, test and test again” philosophy is key, to develop as extensive a scope of test evidence as possible, in all sorts of glazing systems and applications. That should be combined with real fire experience, large scale fire tests and a focus on the robustness of the underlying technology (including identification of any limits that may apply.)
 

Modern challenges are not limited to the complexities of new buildings. Old buildings have particular challenges in their own right. Refurbishments are one of the most effective ways to breathe life into an old building, offering an opportunity to maintain the look of a building and its essential character whilst making it safer, in line with modern fire safety practice, and more pleasant for occupants. Two recent refurbishments where Pilkington Pyrostop® was specified to meet the requirements are North Glasgow College and Bedford Magistrates Court. Both are areas of high foot flow where visitor safety is of paramount importance.

North Glasgow College has utilised Pilkington Pyrostop® fire-resistant glazing as part of a refurbishment and for a state-of-the-art learning facility in its Springburn campus. This £42 million, 16,900m2 development incorporates a central atrium space, with Pilkington Pyrostop® used to protect its occupants and contents from fire whilst allowing natural light into the building.

Two separate elements of the college, academic teaching spaces and technical workshops, have been joined with a glazed corridor, whilst the atrium provides a new social hub, café area and a junction where circulation routes cross. Safety is paramount, and a tried and tested product with protection against heat, flames and hot gases was required. Pilkington Pyrostop® also provides protected firefighter access after the occupants have left and further protects the building against extended fire exposure to limit fire spread and damage.

Bedford Magistrates Court is a red brick and terracotta Gothic style building that still sees many visitors through its doors each week. Pilkington Pyrostop® was specified in a £1.25million refurbishment of the Grade 2 listed Magistrates’ Court in Bedford. The historic building, constructed in the 1800’s, now has the fire-resistant glazing in doors, screens and windows, offering both integrity and insulation fire protection to modern standards and expectations of fitness for purpose. The changes maintain the core character of the building whilst enhancing its essential fire safety requirements.

The Pilkington well-known family of fire-resistant glass
Pilkington Pyrostop® An extensive range based on a well established intumescent interlayer technology, providing integrity and insulation performance in appropriately glazed systems up to 180 minutes insulation.
Pilkington Pyrodur® The integrity version of the well established Pyrostop interlayer technology (30 and 60 minutes).
Pilkington Pyrodur Plus® A unique 7mm integrity-rated glass for 30 minutes class, based on an advanced proprietary interlayer chemistry, with the extra benefit of full insulation capability rated at 15 minutes (European terminology E/EW 30 and EI 15).
Pilkington Pyroshield® 2 Safety Clear A robust integrity glass with the traditional recognised strengths in fire of wired glass. Capable of attaining the European radiation criteria for 15 minutes (EW15)
The intumsecent Pyrostop and Pyrodur range in particular offers good acoustic insulation performance and can be combined with other glass types to give a range of functional performances. Impact safety classifications apply as appropriate.

For further information, go to www.pilkington.co.uk
www.pilkington.co.uk/specifire