Keeping a university estate, with its diverse range of buildings and activities, up to scratch in terms of fire safety is always a challenge. At one of the largest and most prestigious – the University of Cambridge – the issues can be even more complex, as Ron Alalouff learns.
If you want a real fire safety challenge – one which has over 350 operational buildings ranging from the historic to the contemporary and other sites worth around GB pound 1.7 billion, with 25,000 staff and students to look after taking part in activities from Atmospheric Science to Zoology, and over a quarter of a million visitors every year – you needn’t look much further than the University of Cambridge. As it celebrates its 800th anniversary in 2009, it truly represents a collision of historic and
21st century.
So it is not surprising that Gerry Dacey has had his work cut out since his appointment as the University’s fire safety manager at the start of 2004. He leads a team of ten which, as part of the maintenance section of the Estate Management department, is responsible for giving the full range of advice and guidance on fire safety to the university’s departments, faculties, schools and other institutions – but excluding the self-governing individual colleges where many students live, eat and socialise. The work is a demanding mixture of managing, maintaining and upgrading existing buildings and liaising with many projects in the planning and construction phases. It entails giving strategic advice to the chancellor, master and scholars on all aspects of fire risk management policy. Decisions are then put into effect working with the heads of department and designated fire safety managers of the various buildings.
Central to Mr Dacey’s plans has been a concerted effort to put fire risk assessments and the flow of information at the heart of his unit’s work. And key to that has been close and early liaison with the fire and rescue service in order to share information and smooth over potential problems before they actually occur.
Poacher turned gamekeeper.
Mr Dacey has excellent credentials to deal with the local fire service. Prior to taking up his post within the university, he was a serving principal officer with Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, retiring as head of community risk management (fire safety). So instead of trying to second guess the results of any fire service inspections, the university’s fire safety unit aims to work with fire officers at the earliest opportunity, carrying out joint inspections of sites. “We understand the importance of a proactive working partnership with the fire and rescue service which helps us to ensure statutory compliance and reduce the risk of possible enforcement action.” He believes this relationship seems to be working as on a ratings scale of zero to five (zero being the lowest and five the highest), all inspections to date have been rated with zeros or ones. The university is also working hard to reduce the number of unwanted fire signals which also helps the fire and rescue service in the delivery of part of its integrated risk management plan.
This approach pays dividends not just in terms of fire risk assessments, but also by compiling and providing vital information on each premises for managers, users and Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue. Key to this has been the installation, over the last two years, of almost 170 premises information boxes (PIBs) manufactured by Gerda Security. The boxes have been supplied in two security grades, the higher grade for premises that are considered more sensitive in terms of security. The boxes contain key information of use to firefighters such as building plans, which include relevant design, management and control features, together with the location of hazardous materials. For its part, the fire and rescue service knows the location of each PIB – indeed, the details are available on their electronic mobilisation data.
As the information in the PIBs is expensive and time-consuming to compile, its value has to be maximised. All the data is also held electronically at the university’s security control centre, and can be used by the emergency management team in the event of an incident. Compiling this information is also a useful discipline for the occupiers of individual sites, as they can obtain information they previously didn’t have about their buildings.
“This has been about developing partnerships – using a recognised system to safeguard our own interests and also provide access to essential information to enhance firefighter safety and, if necessary, expedite the conduct of operations,” explains Mr Dacey.
Charm offensive
It took time, however, to develop these internal and external working arrangements. When he started off as the university’s fire safety manager, things were pretty challenging for the first year or two. “Academics are quite naturally focussed on teaching and research – they don’t welcome unnecessary interference which disrupts their work and takes up too much of their time – so we had to earn their respect.” He had to embark on something of a charm offensive, speaking to as many staff as possible about their perceptions of risk in specific buildings and, where necessary, diplomatically put the case for stronger fire safety measures. This eventually resulted in a significant culture change which matched the needs of the new fire safety legislation.
After this extended ‘probationary’ period, he realised that he just didn’t have the resources to meet the scale of the job required, so he prepared a case for a substantial increase in budget and set about strengthening his team. The first addition was Gerry Walker, another former fire and rescue service senior officer who had, for many years, served as Gerry Dacey’s deputy. “To implement the necessary change, I needed the support of an ally who possessed a high level of requisite technical skills, knowledge and experience, and I knew that Gerry would adequately fill that void. Having identified the potential risks, I was also very fortunate to have the total backing of my own line manager, who exercised the necessary trust and confidence, together with the autonomy necessary to allow me to deliver what was needed.”
Analysis
The fire safety unit is involved in the compilation and annual audit of over 200 fire risk assessments. This work is carried out in conjunction with the fire safety manager for each premises, who is appointed by the head of department and may, in some cases, either be the departmental safety officer or another member of the academic staff. True to the spirit that a fire risk assessment should be a dynamic process, the results are fed into the priority works programme, which itself gets fine tuned as a result, ensuring that more critical improvement work is expedited. An enhanced auditing system is now currently being introduced and is intended to encourage nominated responsible persons to take ownership for periodic review of the fire risk assessments, at the same time checking the quality of any necessary remedial work.
On the hardware side, the university needed to replace some of its ageing fire detection and alarm systems and upgrade others to a minimum category of L2 and in some cases L1. This has now resulted in a rolling programme of replacement work in existing buildings. Although this work is let to a number of other approved suppliers, all planned preventative maintenance is currently undertaken by Hallmark Fire as the appointed contractor.
The university estate is a constantly changing environment, with an ongoing programme of improvement either by refurbishment of existing premises or expansion by new build. As well as following existing regulations, guidance and approved codes of practice, the university also has its own design guide, which frequently sets far more demanding standards for construction and fitting of services. An example of this is the requirement to have at least one evacuation-standard lift as part of all new build and major refurbishment projects. There is also a rolling programme to upgrade some existing lifts to provide a similar standard to assist in complying with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, so ensuring that disabled staff and students can quickly and safely evacuate buildings when necessary. In this respect, the fire safety unit also provides and maintains other specialist electro-mechanical aids for evacuation and has accepted responsibility to train other staff in their use.
In terms of structural fire protection, the university has appointed T Butler & Son (Sawston) as the term contractor responsible for the routine maintenance of all passive fire protection works. This allows a rapid response to all reactive requests for repair and maintenance of building fabric necessary to maintain the required fire safety standards.
The fire safety unit is also heavily involved in the university’s new build planning and construction projects, which are currently valued at around GB pound 500 million. These can range form a single laboratory or small office accommodation, to major prestige buildings designed by internationally famous architects and financed by some of the wealthiest individuals or organisations in the world. Whatever the brief, Gerry Dacey and his team aim to ensure that they see the plans before they go to building control, so pre-empting, as far as possible, any fire safety issues. In the case of buildings where fire engineering solutions are proposed, such as large atria or unusual escape facilities due to innovative experimentation and research, early consultation between the authorities, architect and consultant involved helps smooth their passage. One example, however, where fire engineering had to be reactive rather than proactive was in the case of the refurbishment of some labs. As the work was nearing completion, building control picked up on the absence of test evidence for the extract ducting from fume cupboards. So Mr Dacey and his team ended up doing a series of tests and risk assessments to demonstrate that the system would behave adequately in the event of a fire.
Unsurprisingly in an environment where people are so steeped in teaching and learning, education and training forms an important part of the fire safety unit’s activities. All students and staff attend an initial fire safety briefing as part of their induction to the university. There are courses for fire safety managers and wardens, and the fire safety team also provide targeted training, including portable extinguisher training, for specific departments or faculties. E-leaning programmes are also being developed, the first one being a fire safety refresher course and assessment.
ENSURING BOOKS DON’T BURN
The University Library in Cambridge has a basement and six floors covering an area of 135m x 105m with a tower of seventeen floors and is one of the largest in the country. As one of only four ‘legal deposit’ libraries which secure a copy of everything that is published in the UK, it plays a part in the maintenance of the national archive.
The initial building, completed in 1934 with a basic floor plan in the shape of the letter E, has had no less than five extensions added since the 1970s with a sixth phase just about to start. All of theses extensions have faithfully followed the original design and construction, while introducing up-to-date fire protection measures to both new and existing parts of the building. All new phases have been provided with a sprinkler system for fire suppression and the original building is compartmented from the new phases by four-hour fire construction.
The main upgrade work completed to date includes:
– The division of the roof space into smaller compartments and escapes from the roof at the ends of the North and South wings.
– Providing separation between floors where they meet windows throughout the original building, as the original construction had around 100mm gap between them.
– The enclosure of subsidiary staircases on all floors in the original building and glass doors to divide up first floor main corridor.
– Partitioning to divide the north and south front areas on the fifth and sixth floors. This required splitting the existing book stacks inserting fire resisting materials and re-fixing like a sandwich, to provide the necessary fire resistance.
– Fitting around 75 replacement timber doors, which were constructed to a custom specification and subjected to a suitable fire test
– Provision of new fire grade lobbies and partitioning at various locations.
– Installation of a fire curtain between the Reading Room and Catalogue Room.
Other work planned includes the installation of an additional fire detection and alarm system in the original building, the upgrading of escape signage and the rationalisation of portable firefighting equipment.
Keeping a university estate, with its diverse range of buildings and activities, up to scratch in terms of fire safety is always a challenge. At one of the largest and most prestigious – the University of Cambridge – the issues can be even more complex, as Ron Alalouff learns.
If you want a real fire safety challenge – one which has over 350 operational buildings ranging from the historic to the contemporary and other sites worth around £1.7 billion, with 25,000 staff and students to look after taking part in activities from Atmospheric Science to Zoology, and over a quarter of a million visitors every year – you needn’t look much further than the University of Cambridge. As it celebrates its 800th anniversary in 2009, it truly represents a collision of historic and 21st century.
So it is not surprising that Gerry Dacey has had his work cut out since his appointment as the University’s fire safety manager at the start of 2004. He leads a team of ten which, as part of the maintenance section of the Estate Management department, is responsible for giving the full range of advice and guidance on fire safety to the university’s departments, faculties, schools and other institutions – but excluding the self-governing individual colleges where many students live, eat and socialise. The work is a demanding mixture of managing, maintaining and upgrading existing buildings and liaising with many projects in the planning and construction phases. It entails giving strategic advice to the chancellor, master and scholars on all aspects of fire risk management policy. Decisions are then put into effect working with the heads of department and designated fire safety managers of the various buildings.
Central to Mr Dacey’s plans has been a concerted effort to put fire risk assessments and the flow of information at the heart of his unit’s work. And key to that has been close and early liaison with the fire and rescue service in order to share information and smooth over potential problems before they actually occur.
Poacher turned gamekeeper.
Mr Dacey has excellent credentials to deal with the local fire service. Prior to taking up his post within the university, he was a serving principal officer with Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, retiring as head of community risk management (fire safety). So instead of trying to second guess the results of any fire service inspections, the university’s fire safety unit aims to work with fire officers at the earliest opportunity, carrying out joint inspections of sites. "We understand the importance of a proactive working partnership with the fire and rescue service which helps us to ensure statutory compliance and reduce the risk of possible enforcement action."
He believes this relationship seems to be working as on a ratings scale of zero to five (zero being the lowest and five the highest), all inspections to date have been rated with zeros or ones. The university is also working hard to reduce the number of unwanted fire signals which also helps the fire and rescue service in the delivery of part of its integrated risk management plan.
This approach pays dividends not just in terms of fire risk assessments, but also by compiling and providing vital information on each premises for managers, users and Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue. Key to this has been the installation, over the last two years, of almost 170 premises information boxes (PIBs) manufactured by Gerda Security. The boxes have been supplied in two security grades, the higher grade for premises that are considered more sensitive in terms of security. The boxes contain key information of use to firefighters such as building plans, which include relevant design, management and control features, together with the location of hazardous materials. For its part, the fire and rescue service knows the location of each PIB – indeed, the details are available on their electronic mobilisation data.
As the information in the PIBs is expensive and time-consuming to compile, its value has to be maximised. All the data is also held electronically at the university’s security control centre, and can be used by the emergency management team in the event of an incident. Compiling this information is also a useful discipline for the occupiers of individual sites, as they can obtain information they previously didn’t have about their buildings.
"This has been about developing partnerships – using a recognised system to safeguard our own interests and also provide access to essential information to enhance firefighter safety and, if necessary, expedite the conduct of operations," explains Mr Dacey.
Charm offensive
It took time, however, to develop these internal and external working arrangements. When he started off as the university’s fire safety manager, things were pretty challenging for the first year or two. "Academics are quite naturally focussed on teaching and research – they don’t welcome unnecessary interference which disrupts their work and takes up too much of their time – so we had to earn their respect." He had to embark on something of a charm offensive, speaking to as many staff as possible about their perceptions of risk in specific buildings and, where necessary, diplomatically put the case for stronger fire safety measures. This eventually resulted in a significant culture change which matched the needs of the new fire safety legislation.
After this extended ‘probationary’ period, he realised that he just didn’t have the resources to meet the scale of the job required, so he prepared a case for a substantial increase in budget and set about strengthening his team. The first addition was Gerry Walker, another former fire and rescue service senior officer who had, for many years, served as Gerry Dacey’s deputy. "To implement the necessary change, I needed the support of an ally who possessed a high level of requisite technical skills, knowledge and experience, and I knew that Gerry would adequately fill that void. Having identified the potential risks, I was also very fortunate to have the total backing of my own line manager, who exercised the necessary trust and confidence, together with the autonomy necessary to allow me to deliver what was needed."
Analysis
The fire safety unit is involved in the compilation and annual audit of over 200 fire risk assessments. This work is carried out in conjunction with the fire safety manager for each premises, who is appointed by the head of department and may, in some cases, either be the departmental safety officer or another member of the academic staff. True to the spirit that a fire risk assessment should be a dynamic process, the results are fed into the priority works programme, which itself gets fine tuned as a result, ensuring that more critical improvement work is expedited. An enhanced auditing system is now currently being introduced and is intended to encourage nominated responsible persons to take ownership for periodic review of the fire risk assessments, at the same time checking the quality of any necessary remedial work.
On the hardware side, the university needed to replace some of its ageing fire detection and alarm systems and upgrade others to a minimum category of L2 and in some cases L1. This has now resulted in a rolling programme of replacement work in existing buildings. Although this work is let to a number of other approved suppliers, all planned preventative maintenance is currently undertaken by Hallmark Fire as the appointed contractor.
The university estate is a constantly changing environment, with an ongoing programme of improvement either by refurbishment of existing premises or expansion by new build. As well as following existing regulations, guidance and approved codes of practice, the university also has its own design guide, which frequently sets far more demanding standards for construction and fitting of services. An example of this is the requirement to have at least one evacuation-standard lift as part of all new build and major refurbishment projects.
There is also a rolling programme to upgrade some existing lifts to provide a similar standard to assist in complying with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, so ensuring that disabled staff and students can quickly and safely evacuate buildings when necessary. In this respect, the fire safety unit also provides and maintains other specialist electro-mechanical aids for evacuation and has accepted responsibility to train other staff in their use.
In terms of structural fire protection, the university has appointed T Butler & Son (Sawston) as the term contractor responsible for the routine maintenance of all passive fire protection works. This allows a rapid response to all reactive requests for repair and maintenance of building fabric necessary to maintain the required fire safety standards.
The fire safety unit is also heavily involved in the university’s new build planning and construction projects, which are currently valued at around £500 million. These can range form a single laboratory or small office accommodation, to major prestige buildings designed by internationally famous architects and financed by some of the wealthiest individuals or organisations in the world. Whatever the brief, Gerry Dacey and his team aim to ensure that they see the plans before they go to building control, so pre-empting, as far as possible, any fire safety issues. In the case of buildings where fire engineering solutions are proposed, such as large atria or unusual escape facilities due to innovative experimentation and research, early consultation between the authorities, architect and consultant involved helps smooth their passage.
One example, however, where fire engineering had to be reactive rather than proactive was in the case of the refurbishment of some labs. As the work was nearing completion, building control picked up on the absence of test evidence for the extract ducting from fume cupboards. So Mr Dacey and his team ended up doing a series of tests and risk assessments to demonstrate that the system would behave adequately in the event of a fire.
Unsurprisingly in an environment where people are so steeped in teaching and learning, education and training forms an important part of the fire safety unit’s activities. All students and staff attend an initial fire safety briefing as part of their induction to the university. There are courses for fire safety managers and wardens, and the fire safety team also provide targeted training, including portable extinguisher training, for specific departments or faculties. E-leaning programmes are also being developed, the first one being a fire safety refresher course and assessment.
ENSURING BOOKS DON’T BURN
The University Library in Cambridge has a basement and six floors covering an area of 135m x 105m with a tower of seventeen floors and is one of the largest in the country. As one of only four ‘legal deposit’ libraries which secure a copy of everything that is published in the UK, it plays a part in the maintenance of the national archive.
The initial building, completed in 1934 with a basic floor plan in the shape of the letter E, has had no less than five extensions added since the 1970s with a sixth phase just about to start. All of theses extensions have faithfully followed the original design and construction, while introducing up-to-date fire protection measures to both new and existing parts of the building. All new phases have been provided with a sprinkler system for fire suppression and the original building is compartmented from the new phases by four-hour fire construction.
The main upgrade work completed to date includes:
– The division of the roof space into smaller compartments and escapes from the roof at the ends of the North and South wings.
– Providing separation between floors where they meet windows throughout the original building, as the original construction had around 100mm gap between them.
– The enclosure of subsidiary staircases on all floors in the original building and glass doors to divide up first floor main corridor.
– Partitioning to divide the north and south front areas on the fifth and sixth floors. This required splitting the existing book stacks inserting fire resisting materials and re-fixing like a sandwich, to provide the necessary fire resistance.
– Fitting around 75 replacement timber doors, which were constructed to a custom specification and subjected to a suitable fire test
– Provision of new fire grade lobbies and partitioning at various locations.
– Installation of a fire curtain between the Reading Room and Catalogue Room.
Other work planned includes the installation of an additional fire detection and alarm system in the original building, the upgrading of escape signage and the rationalisation of portable firefighting equipment.
