CAMPUS FIRE SAFETY AND
SECURITY – MAKING THE GRADE
After the recent events at Bolton University, where a student accommodation tower
went up in flames, Karen Trigg of Allegion UK looks into how campus management
must improve their fire safety and security strategies to keep students safe.
Universities are more aware than ever of their responsibility
to keep students safe and secure from all potential fire and
security threats. However, after the recent events at Bolton
University, where a fire ripped through the Cube building
(an accommodation block that is home to more than 200
students) in a matter of minutes, there’s an apparent issue.
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Alarmingly, the ban also fails to include 966 existing
university and school building projects. What’s more, other
areas such as fire door hardware, evacuation and lockdown
procedures and also campus security are all crying out for
re-evaluation too. So where should facility managers begin?
A WORRYING SITUATION
Two years after the Grenfell tragedy, this shocking case has
once again brought to light the serious issue of fire safety
standards in high-rise and low-rise residential buildings, but
most recently in our universities. Now, there is mounting
pressure on facility managers, security teams and the
government to not only reevaluate building design, but also
fire safety and security protocols. A university campus is a complex environment. The size and
complexity of the buildings involved presents a challenge in
itself. Adding to that, with student numbers rising, it would
appear that facility managers have an increasing number of
occupants to consider, and for that safety protocols need to
improve.
Whilst the government is banning combustible materials
on new high-rise homes and has committed to replace
aluminium composite material (ACM) panels on public
sector high-rise residential buildings above 18m in height,
there’s still thousands of existing buildings that fall outside
the scope of the ban. In the last five years, more than one in four universities
have received complaints from students, staff or the public
regarding fire safety or building evacuation procedures. Pair
this with the state of student buildings, which in many cases
are years old and not regularly maintained, it’s not surprising
that safety standards need improving across the board.