Education Today Education Today Magazine
Fire safety is critical in any building, but never more so than in educational establishments where its review and maintenance is an ongoing concern. The Office for National Statistics reported last year that around 700,000 pupils are learning in schools which require major rebuilding or refurbishment – a situation compounded
further by the energy cost crisis and a lack of funding from the Department for Education. The report states that overall, the condition of the English school estate is declining, bringing safety concerns about some types of buildings. While property managers and senior leadership teams across schools have a responsibility to ensure their buildings remain safe for learners and teaching staff, budgets are set to be a challenging factor for years to come. Which is why harnessing the expertise of trusted property maintenance and compliance specialists such as Inspectas, means a school or college’s resources are maximised to ensure that compliance is not only reached and sustained but that confidence and assurance is the norm.
Grenfell and the fire risk
When looking at fire safety, Neil Triggs, Inspectas’ Chief Operating Officer – Major Projects, Fire and Compliance, said his team’s priority is to examine the risk versus available maintenance funds, to empower building
management teams and managers to prioritise works in the context of the overall school fabric. He explains: “The Grenfell Fire tragedy really catapulted the risk to life that is inherent in poorly designed, constructed, maintained and operated buildings and this has naturally flowed into the education sector where schools represent a high risk in terms of occupancy and varying standards of design, maintenance and age.
Knee-jerk
“What we see is a natural but sometimes knee-jerk reaction to fire safety, particularly when instructing surveys to assess compartmentation and fire doors without actually considering the school’s wider fire strategy. The fire strategy ultimately determines what walls and floors are classed as compartment or protected construction and within this, what doors need to be fire rated. Neil adds: “Compartmentation and fire doors should never be assessed in isolation, they are part of a far broader picture of the school’s fire safety which should be evaluated as a whole.”
Building codes and life safety
School buildings used to be designed to Building Codes and in 1976, Education Building Bulletin BB7 became the de-facto design manual for fire design. This was replaced by Education Building Bulletin BB 100 in September 2007 which was then updated in March 2014. BB 100 aims to advise how to design school buildings – whether new, refurbished or extended – so that they satisfy Building Regulation Approved Document B and are
adequately protected from the risk of fire. Fast forward to 2020 and the Fire Protection Association reported that 40 schools a month suffered fires in the previous year, quoting a “perfect storm” of risky buildings and “poor fire detection and prevention measures” within the 26,866 schools analysed.
A school or college’s resources are maximised to ensure that compliance is not only reached and sustained but that confidence and assurance is the norm. Grenfell and the fire risk When looking at fire safety, Neil Triggs, Inspectas’ Chief Operating Officer – Major Projects, Fire and Compliance, said his team’s priority is to examine the risk versus available maintenance funds, to empower building management teams and managers to prioritise works in the context of the overall school
Building codes and life safety
School buildings used to be designed to Building Codes and in 1976, Education Building Bulletin BB7 became the de-facto design manual for fire design. This was replaced by Education Building Bulletin BB 100 in September 2007 which was then updated in March 2014. BB 100 aims to advise how to design school buildings – whether new, refurbished or extended – so that they satisfy Building Regulation Approved Document B and are adequately protected from the risk of fire. Fast forward to 2020 and the Fire Protection Association reported that 40 schools a month suffered fires in the previous year, quoting a “perfect storm” of risky buildings and “poor fire detection and prevention measures” within the 26,866 schools analysed.
Fire strategy plan
Neil adds: “At Inspectas, our approach is to advise schools on the need to produce an all-important fire strategy plan and this is never more important than when undertaking extensions and refurbishments when the very fabric and footprint of the building will change. This cost-effective approach allows an assessment against BB 100 and the production of up-to-date fire strategy plans that definitively determine the fire compartments
and fire doors. “From this, we implement our follow up compartments and fire door surveys and any resulting remedial works can be budgeted and planned. This avoids potentially significant and unnecessary expenditure, based on inaccurate assessments of historic fire design arrangements or where layouts and uses have
changed.” The expertly trained and highly experienced Fire Safety Assessors at Inspectas are equipped to support all schools undertaking building refurbishments, extensions and improvement works to undertake the appropriate Fire Strategies, Fire Strategy Plans, Fire Safety Risk Assessments, Fire Door Surveys and Fire
Compartmentation Surveys, at a time which is
convenient to you.
With more than 150 clients in the education, healthcare, retail, construction and industrial sectors, Inspectas marked its 10th anniversary in 2023 alongside the addition of former Royal Air Force firefighter and construction site risk assessor, surveyor, inspector and senior project manager Michael Shone as Fire Compliance Services Divisional Lead, who works alongside Neil Triggs and the company’s 40-strong team.
The Inspectas peace of mind fire safety
approach delivers:
• Accurate and definitive fire strategy plans
• Appropriate and targeted fire compartmentation and door surveys
• Targeted replacement, repair, remedial work and refurbishment of fire compartments and doors
• The ability to accurately budget and submit best value funding applications for compliance works
• Assess risks versus available maintenance budgets and prioritise works in the context of the overall school fabric and services maintenance budget
• Up to date suite of fire compliance documents demonstrating best practice and confirming compliance with fire legislation
• The reassurance of working with a BAFE registered organisation
• A team which is proud of its pricing, turnaround times and record for delivery
0800 054 6658
info@inspectas.co.uk
www.inspectasfiresafety.co.uk
