Critically, this Guidance means that timber frame can be built in any location in the UK relative to the fire risk associated with highly populated or inner city areas.  Called ‘Design guide to separating distances for timber frame buildings during construction’, the Guidance is the result of extensive fire testing and expert input from the fire engineering community and has been developed in co-operation with the HSE, the Fire Protection Association (FPA), the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) and the Fire Brigade Union (FBU).

Dr. Paul Newman, Director of the UKTFA says “Managing the risk of fire on construction sites is not a consideration for the timber frame community alone, it affects all forms of construction. The UKTFA has paved the way in setting a standard for main contractors to follow when managing site safety. We are delighted that the HSE and CFOA consider our Guidance worthy of their endorsement and pleased that they felt able to commend our proactive approach in setting fire safety standards.”

Philip White, chief inspector of construction, Health & Safety Executive, comments:  “There have been a number of dramatic examples in recent years of the damage that construction site fires can cause to neighbouring properties. HSE has been working closing with the UKTFA on assessing off-site fire risk and we welcome its new guidance.  UKTFA’s Separating Distance Guidance is based on the latest scientific knowledge and provides the industry with a sound basis to help control the risks of projects involving timber frame structures.”

The Guidance, which applies to structures over 600m², is aimed at architects, designers, developers and contractors, enabling them to fully extract the benefits of timber frame construction and also assess the fire risk to neighboring buildings should a fire occur during construction – this was a requirement of HSG168 ‘Fire Safety in Construction’ published by the HSE in October 2010.  This Guidance is confined to the period during construction prior to the completion of fire resistant finishes.

The supporting technical data in this Guidance is based on extensive fire testing, carried out in August 2011 by the UKTFA, to determine the appropriate separating distances between buildings to minimise the heat radiation to neighbouring properties in the event of a construction site fire.  As a result of this test data, three generic categories of timber frame have been evolved with increasing resistance to fire spread and associated reduction in emitted heat to neighbouring properties. The user of this Guidance can select either a Category A, B or C frame type depending on the site conditions and distances to surrounding buildings – the critical point is that a recommended timber frame solution can be specified to suit the individual site location and conditions, no matter how challenging, even in densely populated inner city developments.

The Guidance is available for download from www.uktfa.com/fireriskmanagement

Ends

For further editorial information or to speak to the UKTFA please contact Emma Hayes on 07545 321 675 or emma@futurepr.uk.com

The UKTFA welcomes the announcement by Grant Shapps (Housing Minister) to help bring self build to the masses by supporting the National Self Build Association (NaSBA ) report calling for local authorities to gauge the demand for self-build in their area and incorporate it into their local housing targets, with a simplified planning system for self-builders.

Simon Orrells, UKTFA Chairman said “In the UK self build accounts for 10% of new housing when in parts of Europe it is as high as 50%. The main reason is that planners in Europe tend to be more sympathetic to self builders, assisting and simplifying the process of planning. In recognition of the government’s push, the UKTFA formed a special self build committee earlier this year with the objective of helping our members to deliver the right product and service and exploit this opportunity. Many of our members already have a developed self build offer, in most cases acting as facilitators and consultants, not just timber frame providers.

“Timber frame is the build method of choice for many self builders, as the build process is easier to manage, designs can be flexible and easy to evolve from initial ideas, higher levels of the code for sustainable homes can be achieved easier and crucially, self builders recognise and value the long-term benefits of low energy costs for their home. Specifying a self build package from a UKTFA member, also eliminates the risk of a poor quality build, as a condition of membership for all our manufacturing members, they must hold a third party quality assurance standard.”

UKTFA welcomes Government definition of zero carbon

The UKTFA welcomes the latest announcement by Housing Minister Grant Shapps to define zero carbon homes. The previously confusing and woolly definition allowed huge scope for some builders to “bend” the rules to suit their own interpretation, often ignoring the true spirit of the definition by thinking that they do their bit by loading poor, leaky building fabric with all manner of bolt-on technologies. UKTFA chairman Simon Orrells comments: “In reality, this does nothing to reduce the carbon footprint of new dwellings, it just stores up long-term maintenance issues for tenants and home owners and more importantly reduces the efficiency of certain renewable technologies. For renewable systems to work at their optimum, the building fabric most certainly has to be highly thermally efficient and with virtually no unwanted air leakage. This is a principle adopted in Germany for some time, under the Passivhaus guise and what most timber frame systems can deliver here in the UK.”

Grant Shapps has become increasingly tuned into the UKTFA thinking of a fabric first approach as the most sensible, cost-effective option to reducing the carbon footprint of new housing stock. His tough but realistic new definition, paves the way for future changes to the Building Regulations to further improve standards of fabric energy efficiency making timber frame the fabric of choice for performance and cost efficiency whilst delivering the most sustainable construction method.