Launched at London Build 2023 on 15 November, the website provides resources on passive fire protection, articulating design related challenges. Members of the PFKG presented updates on the group’s activities, highlighting recent work and sharing future plans at part of London Build’s Fire Safety Stage. PFKG was founded in 2022, as a ‘unique’ not-for-profit collaboration comprising major contractors, specialist installers, and relevant trade associations. This collaborative forum says it ‘aims to lead the culture change in the construction industry espoused since the Grenfell tragedy by the likes of Dame Judith Hackitt, politicians, and other bodies’.
The first four in a series of knowledge shares and a best practice guide to feature on the new website include three ‘knowledge share’ documents and a specification presentation:
1: MEP service positioning and separation within compartment walls.
2: Wall compatibility checks.
3: Shaft walls and service penetrations
MEP services penetration seals best practice design and specification.
Will Pitt and Joe Cilia, Joint chairs of the (PFKG), said: “One year on, our group has gained crucial experience that has enabled us to establish an effective structure and identify potential risks. We now have a robust framework that allows us to highlight issues and agree where the risks are so they can be articulated with one voice in the form of peer reviewed ‘
The PFKG is focused on concerns related to firestopping passing through internal compartmentation, including dry lining, and the specification of internal non-loadbearing fire resisting partitions (firewalls). Other issues it considers include the lack of test data for real life installations, the performance requirements of firestopping, independent inspection during construction and recording of details, and what the group dubs ‘the lack of education in those designing, procuring, and installing, passive fire protection’.