Cintec America IncA number of fires have had a devastating effect on refurbished buildings, resulting in loss of life.
Cintec has been fully aware of the danger of fire and has always produced fire resistant remedial anchors and reinforcement.
In the past few years, fire has been an increasing concern when buildings are being retrofitted, restored, or modernized. On June 14th, 2017, a fire broke out in the 24 storey Grenfell Tower, widely reported as the worst residential fire to take place in the U.K since the second World War, due to failures by design.
As concerns over fire safety spread through the country, Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a public inquiry. As stated in the final report of the review of building regulations and fire safety, England is by no means alone in needing to improve building safety, as building regulations are a global concern.
Under the terms of the EC Construction Products Directive, resistance to fire is one of the essential requirements for which performance tests are required. In Europe, thin-joint mortars have become popular, thus there are a number of situations where fixings are made using organic polymers as either the tie body, or in the form of resin glues. Such ties are not inherently fire resistant and could fail and shorten the life of a cavity wall in a fire, or lead to the collapse of cladding resulting in danger to escaping occupants and fire fighters.
As a leader in structural preservation, we have always advocated for the restoration of safe buildings through fire-resistant anchors. As long ago as 1993, fire tests were carried out by the internationally recognized Building Research Establishment in accordance with BS476, ISO and CEN. The fire rig used in the tests was designed for measuring the performance of Cintec anchors in a fire situation while subjected to a mechanical load which might be a result of wind suction of fire-induced thermal movement.
Cintec remedial anchors survived a two-hour test without failure of any of the samples. Every sample reached several hundred degrees in the part of the anchor nearest to the fire face. This indicates the anchor system can be recommended for repair work to buildings requiring a fire rating of up to two hours.
References
BS476: Part 20: 1987, Fire tests on building materials & structures. British Standards Institute, London, 1987
ISO/DIS 834 – Fire resistance tests – Elements of building construction. Part 1: General requirements for fire resistance testing; Part 2: Fire resistance testing of non-loadbearing elements; Part 3: Fire resistance testing of loadbearing elements
CEN prENYYY1, prENYYY2, prENYYY3 (Renumbered equivalents of ISO drafts).
