Fire Compartmentation

Fire compartmentation is integral to structural fire protection and fire safety in properties. It’s primary purpose is to slow or stop the spread of flames and smoke, allowing for the safe evacuation of occupants and offering protection for firefighters. It’s a passive fire protection method that’s a requirement in almost all buildings.

Fire compartmentation is often built into a building’s construction, but it is possible to add extra measures to enhance fire resistance. At Adaston, we advise on new and existing measures to ensure your buildings are fully compliant.

What Is Fire Compartmentation?

Fire compartmentation is the act of dividing a large space into smaller sections. These are typically fire-resistant, delaying the spread of fire, smoke and heat. This allows more time for evacuation and reduces property damage. It also makes taming the flames easier for fire and rescue services.

Examples of fire compartmentation can include:

Large Buildings: Larger buildings require more extensive compartmentation to ensure that fires can be contained within smaller areas.
Medium Buildings: Compartmentation will focus on separating office spaces from essential areas, including server rooms, storage areas and escape routes. Special attention is given to areas with higher fire risks, such as kitchens or break rooms.
Small Buildings: Smaller buildings might have simpler compartmentation needs, with fewer sections needing fire containment.
High-Rise: These structures require more precise compartmentation due to complex evacuation and risk of vertical fire spread.
Low-Rise: Low-rise compartmentation may also have simpler needs, focusing more on horizontal containment.
Industrial Lots: Industrial buildings should be designed to isolate high-risk areas, such as storage for flammable materials or manufacturing zones.
Commercial Lots: In commercial buildings, the focus is protecting essential areas, such as stairwells, corridors and escape routes.
Residential Lots: Residential compartmentation should focus on separating living units and high-risk rooms, such as kitchens, dining rooms and bathrooms.

Why do you Need Fire Compartmentation Protection?

Fire compartmentation protection is a vital component of any fire strategy. It’s primarily designed to safeguard lives and guarantee the ability to escape, but it also plays a vital role in limiting the financial impact of damage in the event of a fire. It’s also mandatory for compliance with all relevant legislation and most building insurances.

By limiting the spread of fire and smoke to a single compartment, escape routes can be preserved and allows occupants to evacuate safely. It protects the building’s structure, ensuring its sustainability, prevents the rapid spread of fire and smoke, limits property damage, and allows emergency services to do their job safely.

Fire Compartmentation Services

At Adaston, all of our work in passive fire protection is undertaken by our in-house expert, experienced and third party accredited operatives. We conduct extensive surveys based on building regulations, the fire strategy of the building, legislation at the time of build and, where applicable, specialist guidance such as BB100 in schools and HTMs in healthcare settings.

We have experience working across a variety of sectors, including schools and higher education, high-rise apartment blocks, hospitals and more.

Our highly skilled team members are all IFC accredited, ensuring they work to industry-leading standards. Our services cover:

Surveys
Consultancy
Remediation and installation

No matter the size of the building or estate in question, Adaston can provide a bespoke plan tailored to individual client requirements, ensuring quality installation and total legislative compliance.

Is Fire Compartmentation a Legal Requirement?

Yes, you must ensure fire safety, such as compartmentation, extinguishers, exit signs and fire doors. Each building’s compartmentation requirements will be bespoke based on its size, construction and use.

In addition, it is a legal requirement to have:

Periodic fire door surveys
Seasonally inspecting communal fire doors
Yearly fire risk assessment

This could prompt further investigation of your compartmentation. This is mandated by the Building Regulations 2010 act.

When Is Compartmentation Needed?

You likely need to update your compartmentation if you have:

An overdo fire compartmentation survey
Your survey recommends remediation
Noticed any problems within your property
Recently undertaken construction
No knowledge of compartmentation
Just purchased the property

Our Process

Planning

Scope of works and deliverables agreed • Full fire strategy of the building provided by the client • Deadlines and timetable agreed, including any out of hours work required

Implementation

Work as agreed in the scope is coordinated and performed • This will be delivered by our in house firestopping team accredited by IFC and cleared and insured

Completion

Finalise and issue our tailored report detailing findings from the scope of works • Adaston advise on next steps if required and provide continued support

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FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Continual Maintenance Vital?
Without proper maintenance, certain elements, like fire doors, can become worn or damaged, which compromises its effectiveness. Therefore, fire safety should be inspected regularly as part of a building's maintenance schedule - generally every six months. This should be arranged by the responsible person that is in charge of fire compartmentation maintenance, which could be the building’s owner, manager, landlord, or letting agent.

Regular inspections will identify any maintenance issues that need attention. For example, all penetrations for pipes, cables, and ducts passing through fire-rated barriers will be checked, sealed or repaired with approved materials to prevent the passage of fire and smoke. Fire doors may require worn or damaged components like hardware, seals, and closers replaced to ensure they are in good condition and perform properly.
What does a Typical Fire Compartmentation Survey Include?
A full fire compartmentation survey inspects each and every compartment line within a building to its full height. This includes both horizontal and vertical lines of fire compartmentation. Our surveyors inspect any penetration passing through the compartments to confirm that they are sealed with compliant materials, in line with manufacturers’ installation instructions.

Surveys can also include a full fire door inspection - which is highly recommended - inspecting all elements of a fire door to confirm elements are compliant, free from damage, and certified. We complete both visual inspections, including but not limited to:
- The door leaf
- Frame
- Ironmongery
Following the survey, a full report is produced detailing any non-conformances and their pinpoint locations within the building. This gives the responsible person the information required to complete the essential remediation works.
Can Existing Buildings be Retrofitted for Improved Fire Compartmentation?
Whether your building is brand new or hundreds of years old, if fire compartmentation wasn't installed at the time of construction, this is something you need to rectify. Fortunately, existing buildings - even listed buildings - can be retrofitted with additional fire-resistant barriers, sealing of penetrations, upgrades to doors and windows, and other measures. While these features are usually built into a building’s construction, Adaston are able advise, where possible, on retrofitting extra measures.