As modern developments increasingly turn to timber for their build solution, so the wood-based industries have had to work to answer the questions posed to them; most notably efforts to offer protection against fire. The treatments market has been the most prolific in offering an answer to these concerns, with new ideas and solutions abundant.
Arch Timber Protection’s Vacsol FR, launched on the market last year, combines a preservative treatment with fire retardant additives, billed as particularly valuable for reducing fire risks in buildings under construction. It is impregnated into framing timbers through a double-vacuum, low pressure indus-trial treatment process, with reduced fire growth, smoke generation and heat release allowing extra time for evacuation, said Janet Brown, marketing manager at Arch. “Vacsol FR fire retardant framing timber has been designed to fit into the fire management regime of any future project, particularly high-value buildings,” she said.
Fellow treatments manufacturer Osmose said that it is working with the timber industry to develop solutions through its Protim brand. This has seen Protim IGuard, designed to protect engineered wood products such as I-joists and I-studs, and Protim FrameGuard, engineered to give short-term spread of flame performance, come to the fore.
“We’re now working with industry to address its future needs and are creating new options for timber to compete against other materials,” said Osmose European marketing director Andy Hodge.
Developments in the treatments market have also been subject to the growth of eco-products, with Fire Retardant UK developing the market for the water-based HR Prof treatment and Chris Dilks from the firm describing interest in the product as "extraordinary".
However, he offered a note of caution to areas of the timber frame industry and specifiers not giving adequate thought to fire protection. "The balance between the extra cost of treating and the risk of not may be something that either the industry or the insurers of timber frame developments will have to address," said Dilks.
Neil Ryan, managing director at PTG Treatments Ltd, added that the treatments market still had work to do educating specifiers on available products and ensuring the solutions put forward are fit for purpose. "We need to be careful that we're applying the right treatments with the right properties in the right environments," he said. "Fire retardants are different from coatings and users need to be aware that the process is right for the intended use."
To this end, he said that PTG had ceased working with dry internal treatments and focused on humidity resistant products to make it easier for customers to make the right choice.
Shock tactics
Developments in the panels market are also providing solutions to fire-safety questions.
Fire Retardant UK has carried out indicative tests on OSB treated with its HR Prof solution and said that the results were "shocking". The untreated board was quickly engulfed by flame while the treated material remained under control.
And Coillte Panel Products has been promoting its Medite FR flame retardant MDF through a dramatic 10-minute DVD showing its performance under fire. Testing two identical rooms, one clad in the flame retardant treated board and one in normal MDF, Coillte said that the results showed the "shockingly obvious" benefits of using treated materials.
"While the standard MDF room becomes a blazing inferno leading to ‘flashover’ in under seven minutes, the room clad in Medite FR MDF maintains a harmless flame with limited damage," said the panel producer.
Many of the answers to the questions posed by specifiers and developers have been demonstrated around the world. Medite FR was a key component of the redevelopment of Dubai International Airport, with 45,000m2 of the flame retardant MDF installed in the ceilings and walls. Construction of the £200m St Stephen's shopping precinct in Hull put HR Prof through its paces. And Arch's Dricon and Non-Com Exterior treatments were both used at the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness, Orkney and the Culloden battlefield visitor centre in Scotland.
Non-Com Exterior also featured in the first Dutch railway station to feature a timber roof. Some 200m3 of Oregon pine was treated with it, offering protection to the 60,000 passengers that pass under the 18,500m2 roof a day.
"The project is another example of how timber can be used to create a truly magnificent building," said Janet Brown. "Our fire retardant treatments will help ensure the timber's safety and beauty are main-tained."
Further reading
UK Timber Frame Association
The first phase of the UKTFA fire safety project is close to completion and scheduled for publication at the end of May. This will produce a set of recommendations on fire prevention measures for timber frame sites under construction, focusing mostly on the "people issues", such as how you manage and protect sites under construction, ensure people work with timber frame in the right way, and how to keep safe the people working on and around those sites.
Future work will look in-depth at "product issues". Key topics will include how to make the frame and other material components more intrinsically fire safe during the construction period, timber frame's resistance to ignition and flame, the effectiveness of fire retardant treatments, and fire evacuation and firefighting guidelines.
UKTFA said it is likely that this aspect will need more technical product development, research and testing before there are new innovations universally acceptable to the supply chain, insurers, Na-tional House-Building Council and other building standards bodies.
TRADA
TRADA's wood information sheet – Fire performance of timber frame residential dwellings – gives guidance and advice on fire protection and ensures that all parties involved understand their role in the design and construction of a compliant timber framed building.
It includes checklists for the installation of internal plasterboard linings and cavity barriers, information on timber's performance under fire and conclusions from fire tests that show timber frame is able to meet the requirements of UK-wide Building Regulations.
It also outlines the required issues that designers and architects must tackle in order to meet Approved Document B of the Building Regulations, including negating fire spread, providing adequate escape routes and the correct level of fire resistance from 30-90 minutes. The information sheet is available for TRADA members and registered users to download at www.trada.co.uk.
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Medite FR was used in great volume to offer protection to Dubai International Airport |
