REGULARS: TECHNICAL TALK
Global game changers unite
for fire safety in buildings
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has joined more
than 30 organisations from around the world to develop landmark
industry standards to address fire safety in buildings.
T
he group, known as the
International Fire Safety Standards
(IFSS) Coalition, was launched at the
United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland in
July 2018. The coalition consists of local
and international professional bodies and
standard-setting organisations committed
to developing and supporting a shared set
of standards for fire safety in buildings.
The standards aim to set and reinforce
the minimum requirements professionals
should adhere to in order to ensure
building safety in the event of a fire. RICS
promotes and enforces the highest
professional qualifications and standards in
the valuation, development and
management of land, real estate,
construction and infrastructure.
“As the property market has become
increasingly international with investments
flowing across national borders, the sector
still lacks a consistent set of high level
global standards that will inform the
design, construction and management of
buildings to address the risks associated
with fire safety,” says TC Chetty, RICS
country manager for South Africa.
Chetty adds, “Global differences in
materials testing and certification, national
building regulations or codes and
standards on how to manage buildings in
use, particularly higher risk buildings,
means there is the potential for confusion,
uncertainty and risk to the public. Here in
South Africa, we have our own strict fire
regulations for all buildings, which fall
under the SABS SANS 10400 Fire
Protection legislation.”
Gary Strong, RICS global building
standards director, cites the Grenfell Tower
fire in June 2017 as a recent example which
demonstrates the need for a coherent
global approach to fire safety. As the RICS
representative to (and chair of) the IFSS
Members represented various organisations at the recent launch of the International Fire
Safety Standards (IFSS) Coalition at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
Coalition, he says that the Grenfell fire – the
worst in the UK for almost a century, which
claimed 72 lives – not only focused attention on
building and fire safety in the UK but also
exposed global inadequacies in how fire safety
standards are set.
“The Grenfell Tower fire focused the world’s
attention on how many buildings are threatened
with the prospect of failing fire safety standards.
All over the world we see the need for more
high-rise structures, some residential, some
commercial and some mixed-use buildings,
particularly in cities. Our concern is not with the
height of these buildings but with the risks they
pose in the absence of a coherent and
harmonised approach to setting global
standards in fire safety. The effort by the IFSS
Coalition aims to address this concern and bring
together the design, construction and
management aspects of ensuring fire safety of
building assets,” says Strong.
Once the high-level standards are developed,
the IFSS Coalition will work with professionals
around the world to deliver the standards
locally. The standards will be owned by the IFSS
Coalition and not by any one organisation. As its
first order of business, the IFSS Coalition will set
up a Standards Setting Committee that will
draw on a group of international technical fire
experts to develop and write the high-level
standards to ensure they are fit for purpose
across global markets.
IFSS COALITION MEMBERS
• Association of Consultant Approved
Inspectors (ACAI)
• Association of European Experts in
Building and Construction (AEEBC)
• Australian Property Institute (API)
• British Institute of Facilities
Management (BIFM)
• Building Control Alliance (BCA)
• Chartered Association of Building
Engineers (CABE)
• Chartered Institute of Architectural
Technologists (CIAT)
• Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)
• Chartered Institution of Building
Services Engineers (CIBSE)
• Commonwealth Association of
Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE)
• Consortium of European Building
Control (CEBC)
• Council on Tall Buildings and Urban
Habitat (CTBUH)
• Engineers Australia
• Federation International de
Geometre (FIG)
• Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE)
• International Code Council (ICC)
• Local Authority Building Control (LABC)
• National House Building Council (NHBC)
• Royal Institute of British
Architects (RIBA)
• Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors (RICS)
• Singapore Institute of Building (SIBL)
• Society of Fire Protection
Engineers (SFPE)
• Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA)
• The World Bank Group
• United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE)
CLADDING // CONCRETE // INSULATION // STEEL // THATCH // TIMBER // TRANSLUCENT // WATERPROOFING // COMPONENTS
SEPTEMBER 2018
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