Siderise celebrates decade of advanced protection for curtain wall façades

Siderise’s perimeter fire barrier systems have been specifically designed to provide enhanced fire resistance performance of the perimeter fire seal at the interface between the floor slab and the spandrel zone of curtain wall façades. These systems include the Siderise CW-FS Curtain Wall Firestops alongside the Siderise CW-FB Curtain Wall Fireboard and mullion protectors, which can be delivered in various arrangements.

Each system has been tested to BS EN 1364-4 in commercially available ‘Type A’ non-fire rated aluminium curtain walls, in arrangements achieving fire ratings of both two hours (EI 120) and three hours (EI 180).

In addition to ensuring compliance with Approved Document B (under BS EN 13501-2 and BS EN 13830), this has been the test standard recommended since 2014 by the Association for Specialist Fire Protection for perimeter firestops used at the periphery of buildings with curtain walls.

Further, in July this year, the Centre for Window & Cladding Technology announced a proposed update to its Technical Note 98 by which it’s also adopting this recommendation. In addition, it’s a route to compliance in other jurisdictions around the world, such as in the UAE and Europe.

Testing to BS EN 1364-4

What’s more, since 2017, Siderise CW-FS Curtain Wall Firestops in combination with Siderise CW-FB Curtain Wall Fireboard remain the only passive fire solution systems on the market to have been tested to BS EN 1364-4 with pre-test movement cycling of the fire seal in accordance with EAD 350141-00-1106. The seal is subjected to mechanically induced movement to ±10% of the seal width at 30 cycles per minute (500 cycles) prior to undergoing the BS EN 1364-4 fire resistance test.

This is the ultimate demonstration that the Siderise CW-FS – thanks to its vertical-fibre Lamella construction – can withstand the long-term movement of the curtain wall façade without degradation and still deliver the required fire resistance performance.

As a business, Siderise is a strong advocate of third party certification, including multiple BS EN 1364-4 test arrangements, undergoing factory audits and manufacturing checks prior to testing. This provides specifiers with clear assurance in the performance and consistency of the products.

Many of Siderise’s BS EN 1364-4 tests are third party certified and, to date, Siderise CW-FS Curtain Wall Firestops remains the only curtain wall perimeter barrier system to be CE marked.

*Further information is available online at www.siderise.com