Kingspan demonstrates reduced risk

Tony Ryan from Kingspan gave delegates at the Fire Event an insight into reducing the risk of fires in cladding systems. The Fire Safety of Insulated Panels and Facade Systems provided plenty of visuals and Tony provided an understanding of the different tests that are used to test materials. Measuring the fire spread, the mass loss of the materials or smoke density are all some of the important things that testing can achieve.

One example he gave was for LPCB LPS 1181-1, which is a test designed to measure spread of fire and fire propagation through insulation. Tony said, “We believe that is a good test for low rise buildings, such as warehouses.”

He said, “Facade systems should not contribute to fire spread. It needs to meet the requirements of BR 135.”

Kingspan's Brian Moss gave some examples of real-life case studies, such as the fire at the retail distribution centre in Charlton. One of the lorries caught fire and spread to six others in the yard.

“The report showed an electrical fault started the fire and wind enabled it to spread. Damage to the panels was localised and did not contribute to the spread of the fire.”

At the end of the session, attendees were invited to the Kingspan stand where they carried out live burn test on its insulated panel core.