by Brianna Crandall — June 10, 2016 — Australia is the most recent country to adopt British Standard BS 8414, in the recently published AS 5113 Standard for Determining Fire Performance Characteristics and Classification of External Walls of Buildings, according to U.K.-based building sciences group BRE.
The inclusion of the British Standard in AS 5113 adds to the growing international recognition of BS 8414 as a robust means of determining the fire performance characteristics of external cladding systems and follows the recent recognition of BS 8414 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) fire safety codes.
This new AS standard forms part of the Australian building regulations approach to managing the fire safety risks associated with external fire spread on high-rise buildings and follows several widely reported high-profile fires that have occurred in Australia and other countries.
The continually increasing and evolving use of new and innovative products as part of the external cladding systems on buildings gives rise to concerns for the overall fire performance of these systems, as they are often less well understood than those of more traditional materials. The high-profile fires illustrate the importance of adequately testing external wall systems exposed to a fire hazard on a realistic scale, says BRE.
The BS 8414 test methods provide a robust methodology for determining the fire performance characteristics of external cladding systems. The standard is divided into two parts:
- Part 1 provides a test method for assessing the fire performance of non-load-bearing external cladding systems applied to the face of the building. This can also be used to test rainscreen overcladding and external wall insulation systems.
- Part 2 provides a test method for assessing the fire performance of non-load-bearing external cladding systems fixed to and supported by a structural steel frame.
Developed and extensively tested by BRE, the standard evaluates whether a cladding system — when subjected to a simulated fire in a compartment, breaking out of an opening (such as a window) in an external wall — will result in excessive fire spread up the outside of the building and its potential to re-enter at a higher level. A video of a test to BS 8414-1 at the BRE Burn Hall (“LPS 1581 BS 8414-1 External Cladding Fire Test“) can be viewed on YouTube.
