27 May 2020

Update: The project' website is accessible here: https://eufirestat.efectisfrance.fr/

The European Commission has selected a consortium of experts for the pilot project “Closing the data gaps and paving the way for pan-European fire safety efforts” that has been initiated in the European Parliament.

The project is related to the collection of fire safety data and statistics across the EU and will run for 17 months.

Efectis will lead the consortium, which is composed of the European Fire Safety Alliance (EuroFSA), the Confederation of Fire Protection Associations Europe (CFPA-Europe), the CTIF (International Association of Fire and Rescue Services), the NFPA (US National Fire Protection Association), The University of Edinburgh,  The University of Lund, the DBI (Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology), the VFDB (German Fire Protection Association) and the BAM (German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing).

Data are essential to identify risk factors and most effective fire prevention measures because EU-wide statistics are currently either not harmonised or do not exist. The conclusions and output of the experts’ work will facilitate a broader accounting of fire incidents and will also give the EU and national governments the opportunity to identify the most effective fire safety measures more accurately.

The Modern Building Alliance calls for the inclusion of fire statistics within the Eurostat mandatory programme and considers this project as an excellent first step.

Full story about the pilot project

25 May 2020 

As part of the project initiated within the ITRE Committee, MEP Ciarán Cuffe (Group of the Greens, Ireland) is currently the rapporteur of the “Draft report on maximising the energy efficiency potential of the EU building stock”.

The aim of the report is as follows: it “examines the potential of energy efficiency in buildings, and, in the context of the current crisis suggests that a European renovation wave could assist with an economic recovery by creating local jobs, upskilling workers, and creating resilient communities”.

This Own Initiative Report has been utilised as an opportunity by different political groups to include considerations other than strict energy efficiency aspects. In particular, fire safety appears more than once:

• There is a proposition by the EPP group to “underline that energy renovation is an opportunity to undertake safety checks (e.g. electrical safety, fire safety features)”. The Modern Building Alliance fully supports this message;
• Another proposition by the EPP group seeks to “underline that ensuring quality, compliance and (fire) safety requires adequate competencies and skills of professionals involved during design and construction/renovation”, which echoes our Call for Action on fire safety competency;
• Finally, a number of MEPs from Renew have drafted a proposition to “recall that fire safety aspects should be considered during the design, construction, renovation and operation of buildings” and referred to the 7 layers of fire safety in buildings: “prevention, detection, early suppression, evacuation, compartmentation, structural safety and firefighting”.

The Modern Building Alliance welcomes these amendments that pave the way for further enhanced fire safety and will continue to engage with Members of the European Parliament to support the EU in ensuring safe and sustainable construction for citizens.

The text and amendments are due to be put to the vote in July.

Full draft

ITRE - Amendments

7 May 2020

The British Standards Institution (BSI) has revised its test method for the fire performance of external cladding systems (BS 8414 Fire performance of external cladding systems).

The purpose of the large-scale façade test method is to provide data that enables the evaluation of the fire performance of the cladding components tested as a system.

The standard is split into two parts:

• Part 1: Test method for non-loadbearing external cladding systems applied to the masonry face of a building
• Part 2: Test method for non-loadbearing external cladding systems fixed to and supported by a structural steel frame

Large scale tests are regularly applied by our industry as an important aspect to validate the fire safety of facade systems considering the interaction between the different elements. BS 8414 is considered as a reference beyond UK and, together with the German standard DIN 4120-20, is the basis of the on-going development of a European assessment method.

More information