On April 16, fire raged through the 17th-century Old Stock Exchange[i] in Copenhagen – one of the city’s oldest buildings.

The fire broke out on the building’s roof during a morning shift of building renovations.

Critically, workers were able to escape and there were no reports of serious injury. Firefighters were able to save around half of the building by defending a fire wall that was added to the building’s centre almost two hundred years ago. Many famous paintings and artworks were able to be taken out and were saved.

Nonetheless, half of the building was destroyed and the iconic 56m dragon-tail spire collapsed.

The fire took place one day before Copenhagen hosted the SFPE Fire Safety Conference & Expo on Performance-Based Design.

Hosted by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, the Conference highlighted significant trends in fire regulatory systems for performance-based design.

Furthermore, the fire highlighted challenges which can occur when fires break out whilst construction or renovation work is in progress.

In this case, the building was wrapped in scaffolding and plastic as a result of the work that was being undertaken. This made it difficult for firefighters to attack the fire from the outside on account of challenges in getting water onto the fire internally. The tower, the copper roof, and ultimately much of the external wall structure, collapsed.

This is not the only case of a major fire occurring during construction or refurbishment.

In 2019, a fire that occurred during refurbishment work[ii] at the French icon Notre-Dame de Paris caused the collapse of the cathedral’s wooden spire, destruction of most of the wooden roof and severe damage to the upper walls. The 800-year-old Cathedral was undergoing refurbishment when a fire began and spread throughout the roof and the wooden spire – although fire spread to the remaining spaces was generally prevented by the vaulted stone ceiling.

The exact cause of the Notre Dame fire remains unknown. However, investigators have found that it was likely triggered by either cigarette smoking on the site or an electrical failure.

The intensity and scale of the fire was in part a result of the combustible material of the roof. However, a further contributing factor was delays that occurred in fire brigade intervention. Whilst the alarm/detection system activated at 6:20pm, the fire brigade was not in fact notified of the fire until 31 minutes later at 6:51pm (the brigade arrived ten minutes later at 7:01pm).

The delay was caused by several factors. A detection system error led to a guard who was investigating the cause of the alarm initially being sent to the wrong location and thus initially reporting no indication of the fire. Other contributing factors included the absence of of an activated detector and the fire alarm system used to locate fires being labelled in a confusing way.

As a result of this delay, the fire grew and spread before fire suppression action could commence.

(Notre Dame fire: image by Cangadoba (photographer) and Philip Terry Graham (editor) via Wikepedia)

New Builds are not exempt

Whilst the above cases refer to incidents in older building renovations, potential fire risks are also present in new building construction.

For example:

• In 2019, a major fire occurred at the New Zealand International Convention Centre as it was undergoing construction. An investigation and report by Fire and Emergency New Zealand concluded that the probable cause of this fire[iii] was inadvertent ignition of the cardboard centre of a roll of waterproofing membrane. Hot works were being undertaken on site in the application of the membrane, which is a commonplace construction practice. However, whilst workers were away from the incident on a break, the cardboard centre apparently smoldered for up to 38 minutes undetected before flaming combustion occurred. This delayed any early fire brigade response. The fire ultimately spread throughout the site building roof and burned for 10 days before being finally extinguished.
• Also in 2019, a major fire broke[iv] out at a building that was undergoing construction at Circular Quay in Sydney, Australia. The blaze was quickly extinguished. However, there were some impacts on surrounding buildings and some local transport delays. Hot work and combustible sheeting on scaffolding were found to be features of this fire.
• Turning to smaller residential buildings, a fire that occurred in a small apartment complex[v] in Mango Hill in Brisbane earlier this year led to damages of more than $1 million. This fire was thought to have been started deliberately. This highlights the importance of providing security on construction sites to prevent arson attacks.

(Construction of the New Zealand International Convention Centre, pictured in August 2019 (two months before fire). Image by Prosperity via Wikipedia)

What are your risks and responsibilities?

The above examples highlight significant factors which can contribute to losses that can occur as a result of fires which break out during construction or renovation work. These include hot work, arson and delayed fire brigade responses as well as poor construction practices and control of combustible materials.

Two questions arise:

• What requirements or statutory obligations are developers and builders in Australia subject to in order to ensure that potential risks associated with fires which may occur during construction or renovation are minimized; and
• What guidance and resources are available?

The first place to look is The Building Code of Australia (BCA)⁶, otherwise known as the National Construction Code (NCC).

Of particular relevance is Performance Requirement E1P5. This specifies that suitable means of fire-fighting services in buildings which are under construction need to be installed so as to enable initial fire attack by construction workers and to allow the fire brigade to undertake attack on the fire upon arrival. The requirement specifies that such means need to be appropriate with regard to both the fire hazards which may be present within the building as well as the building’s height.

The Guide to the BCA expands on this by stating that a number of fires have spread because services were turned off by workers during construction. In addition, it is important to ensure that once installed and activated, fire alarm and suppression systems are not subject to false alarms and brigade callouts due to construction processes.

To satisfy the performance requirement, the Deemed-to-Satisfy provision Clause E1D16 can be used.

This provides that in order for the above performance requirement to be met using deemed-to-satisfy, the following is needed:

“In a building under construction—

1. not less than one fire extinguisher to suit Class A, B and C fires and electrical fires must be provided at all times on each storey adjacent to each required exit or temporary stairway or exit; and
2. after the building has reached an effective height of 12m—

• the required fire hydrants and fire hose reels must be operational in at least every storey that is covered by the roof or the floor structure above, except the 2 uppermost storeys; and
• any required booster connections must be installed.”

In addition to statutory obligations under the NCC, developers and builders should also consider their duty of care to construction workers, fire fighters and ultimately building occupants under Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) legislation. The primary WHS obligation is a duty to ensure the health and safety of workers while they are at work in the business of construction and to others who may be affected by the carrying out of work.

Finally, construction companies need to consider their financial obligations to their ultimate owners and insurers that could be jeopardized if a building is lost or damaged by fire or cannot be delivered in the required timeframe.

For all of the above reasons, developers and builders need to mitigate their risks with a carefully considered fire safety management plan for construction. This plan should be based on sound guidance in order to meet the requirements of the BCA and building regulations as well as their wider WHS obligations.

Guidance available

For practical guidance for all stakeholders, there are a range of key guidance documents which

developers, builders, design teams, owners and occupiers can turn to in order to prepare and monitor a comprehensive fire safety plan for buildings undergoing construction.

One useful guide is the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance document HSG-168 Fire Safety in Construction[vi].

This outlines regulatory and stakeholder responsibilities and also suggests a risk assessment approach to managing fires during construction. It emphasises the need to prevent fires from occurring by reducing or managing all ignition sources and combustible materials. The guide also outlines the details that are required in a fire safety plan. This includes emergency procedures to be followed in the event of fire. These details emphasise the importance of fire extinguishers and hose reels for first aid fire attack as well as hydrants and water supplies for fire brigade intervention.

Another very useful document is the “Practice Guide for Fire Safety in Partially Occupied Buildings, Version 1, 28 April 2022” prepared by the Society of Fire Safety (SFS)[vii]. This Guide again outlines the more general statutory requirements for stakeholders and suggests that all stakeholders need to adopt a risk management approach to fire safety on construction sites. The Guide outlines the key risk assessment process, and the proper consideration of the fire safety measures which can reduce risk.

While the principles of fire prevention and a rapid response to any fire ignitions can apply to all construction projects, this SFS Guide gives special emphasis to partially occupied buildings and staged construction, where fires in one part of a building could potentially impact on people occupying other parts of the same building. Classic examples are the on-going redevelopment and expansion of existing shopping centres, hospitals and airports. This partial occupation situation demands an even more important level of risk consideration. Toward this end, the Guide highlights the importance of developing fire safety plans with “interim fire prevention measures” and “interim fire protection measures” at each stage of construction.

Those interim measures in relation to fire protection should cover means of detection, warning, egress, first aid fire-fighting, restricting fire spread and structural fire protection, suppression, smoke hazard management, fire brigade access and intervention, and fire safety management procedures in the event of a fire.

For every construction project, there is a need for the developer, builder or other party representing “the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU)” to consider the fire risks during construction and develop a suitable fire safety plan using persons with the required competency. It is likely that there will be significant benefits from inclusion of a professional fire safety engineer to address construction fire risks, particularly if that engineer is already engaged in the development of the fire safety strategy for the building as a whole.

 Summary 

Fires during construction of new or partially occupied buildings can lead to great damage and endanger occupants, fire fighters and other community assets. Likewise, fires during refurbishment of older and historic buildings can destroy valuable heritage values and significant landmarks.

Builders and property owners are increasingly recognising their statutory responsibilities and the need to work with fire safety specialists to create solid fire safety plans and reduce construction fire safety risks.

The guidance produced by SFS and others, as well as lessons learned from past fire case studies, highlight the available resources and critical importance of their appropriate application to discharge duty of care and reduce the impact of fires during construction.

References

1. [i]https://apnews.com/article/denmark-copenhagen-stock-exchange-fire-landmark-spire-cc8989c39748ae34e4606e506d9fa165
2. [ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre-Dame_fire
3. [iii] https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/revealed-cause-of-skycity-fire-gas-torch-left-cardboard-smouldering-for-38-minutes/ESF2MSYSJGFGAZA5JJP5MNFDBU/
4. [iv] https://www.9news.com.au/national/construction-site-fire-circular-quay/70adc2ab-87b5-4ba9-a2a5-8f9d71b2493d
5. [v] https://www.9news.com.au/national/mango-hill-brisbane-fire-tears-through-homes-under-construction/92e5a2bc-9991-4e93-ab7b-bb8181c7607c
6. [vi] National Construction Code, Volume One, Building Code of Australia, Australian Building Codes Board, Canberra, 2022.
7. [vii] “Practice Guide for Fire Safety in Partially Occupied Buildings, Version 1, 28 April 2022” prepared by the Society of Fire Safety (SFS).

By Peter Johnson and Thomas Lemmon from Arup,  Melbourne

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