Fire safety and the shopping mall

With the increasing popularity of malls and the shopping/leisure under one roof experience Buro Happold’s fire expert in the Middle East, Peter Stephenson, discusses how to ensure staff and visitors remain safe from fire related incidents.

Large assembly buildings such as shopping malls pose many challenges to architects and their design teams. As most shopping malls are multi-functional assembly buildings providing visitors with a mix of retail and dining outlets and other leisure activities such as multiplex cinemas their layouts can be complex, constantly changing and designed to yield the maximum in revenue.

Keeping your customers safe

Add to this a constantly fluctuating flow of mall users and safety issues become a key issue for these types of buildings. Recent tragic fires in the Middle East have highlighted the importance of having and implementing a robust fire safety strategy developed by experienced fire engineers. To avoid similar incidents in the future it’s important to understand the risk profile of a shopping complex and the interaction between different building users. This can assist in developing the optimum fire strategy for the building, reducing the likelihood of fire occurring in the first instance. By working closely with all relevant project stakeholders, including the client (or representative), the design team, police, civil defence, security specialists etc, fire engineering can ensure that the fire safety objectives of all interested parties are included within the design and that appropriate fire protection systems are recommended accordingly  within the strategy.

The fundamental purpose of a fire strategy is to ensure the safety of the building users in the event of a fire. As part of the on-going design process the fire safety objectives and any additional requirements for property protection, business continuity etc. should be continually reviewed and confirmed. This involves carrying out detailed analysis of the initiation and development of fire within the building to determine if fire and evacuation modelling is necessary to demonstrate compliance with fire safety codes or to satisfy performance based fire engineering acceptance criteria. These techniques will give the design team and approving authorities a better understanding of the likely spread of fire, smoke and toxic gases within the building and assist in determining smoke management and means of escape provisions.

Delivering safe environments

Buro Happold Fire Engineering has a wealth of experience working with clients and design teams to develop fire strategies from concept through to detail design, construction and occupation of the building. The team has assisted clients in developing building fire safety management plans to support their fire strategy: an important aspect for clients who need reassurance when developing and implementing their building policies and procedures. The team has experience of operational fire fighting and legislative fire safety enforcement within the UK which provides a deeper understanding of day-to-day fire safety issues that may occur and can be addressed in the strategy or fire safety management plans. A fire strategy developed by Buro Happold Fire Engineering will provide a comprehensive analysis of the any project’s fire safety provisions and minimise the likelihood of a tragedy occurring in the future.