When you think back to tower blocks, they are a fairly recent phenomenon. Many of those lining the suburbs and city centres of Britain were first built in the 1960s.
Park Hill in Sheffield had its first residents move in during 1961. The Brutalist Barbican development in London began in 1965, and there are many, many other examples of 60s developments that continued into the 1970s. Grenfell Tower, for example, opened its doors in 1974 and remained home to hundreds of people until the tragic fire in 2017.
The tallest residential tower from the 60s still standing is Balfron Tower in Poplar, London, at 84 metres tall with 26 storeys.
These examples are relatively squat compared with some of the residential towers that have appeared in more recent years:
- Landmark Pinnacle, London, 75 storeys
- Hampton Tower, London, 68 storeys
- Square South Tower, Manchester, 65 storeys
- Newfoundland, London, 58 storeys
- Wardian East Tower, London, 55 storeys
Now you may be thinking, “What’s the Storey, morning glory?” but bear with us.
Because as our buildings have grown taller, the challenges associated with keeping the people inside them safe have grown too.
In recent years, one of the biggest touchpoints for fire safety has, of course, been cladding. The fire at Grenfell spread so quickly because flames were able to escape from the flat where the fire originated and reach the building’s external wall system. Combustible materials within that system allowed the fire to spread rapidly up and around the tower.
Grenfell fundamentally changed the conversation around high rise fire safety in Britain. But cladding is only one part of that conversation.
A modern residential tower is a complex building containing hundreds, sometimes thousands, of individual elements that collectively contribute to its fire strategy. Fire doors, compartmentation, service penetrations, cavity barriers, fire stopping and escape routes all have a role to play.
And this is where height matters
A fire in a two storey building and a fire 50 or 60 storeys above ground level present very different challenges. Fire and rescue services cannot simply rely on external access at these heights. Residents may have considerable distances to travel. Smoke movement becomes critical. Evacuation strategies need to work, and the passive fire protection built into the structure has to perform exactly as intended.
The fundamental principle, however, remains remarkably simple.
Keep fire and smoke contained for long enough to protect lives and allow people to escape safely
That’s why at Ember Fire Consultants Limited, we don’t look at passive fire protection as a collection of isolated products or individual jobs.
We think about the building holistically.
A fire door installation matters, but so does the compartmentation around it. A penetration may have been correctly fire stopped, but what else has happened within that compartment? A fire risk assessment might identify an issue, but that issue then needs to translate into competent remedial work and, ultimately, a safer building.
Ember brings together passive fire consultancy and installation expertise to help bridge those gaps.
Our work includes fire door installations, fire door remedials and fire risk assessments, alongside wider passive fire protection expertise and consultancy. It means we can look beyond an individual defect and consider how different elements of a building’s fire safety strategy interact.
Because buildings don’t remain untouched after construction.
Cables are added. Pipes are replaced. New services are installed. Contractors drill through walls and floors. Fire doors become damaged or incorrectly adjusted. Penetrations that were once properly sealed can be disturbed.
On a 60 or 70 storey residential tower, those individual defects can potentially exist hundreds or thousands of times across the building.
That is why passive fire protection cannot simply be treated as a box ticking exercise
It requires competent installation, ongoing inspection, effective remedial work, accurate records and, crucially, an understanding of the building as a whole.
Britain’s tower blocks may have changed enormously since the first residents moved into Park Hill more than 65 years ago. They’re taller, more sophisticated and considerably more complex.
Our approach to fire safety has to evolve with them.
At Ember Fire Consultants Limited, that means combining consultancy with practical passive fire expertise and looking at the entire building rather than one element in isolation.
Because however many storeys we add, one principle shouldn’t change:
Fire needs to stay where it starts.
Contact Joshua and the team today to find out more about our expertise, services and availiability.
