Joint Submission to the Minister - Timber Framed Buildings

In 2007, the Chair of the Practitioners’ Forum and the then Director of Fire & Resilience agreed that the Forum should establish a Task & Finish Group to examine emerging concerns over rapid fire spread in timber-framed buildings. The Group, which included FRS staff and trade union representatives as well as officials from CLG, HSE and the Building Research Establishment, reported back to the Practitioners Forum in February 2009 and to the Business & Community Safety Forum in March 2009.

Timber Framed is an accepted method of construction and, along with many other forms of Innovative Construction Products and Techniques (ICPT), is becoming more popular with builders and developers. These constructions are found across the range of building type including residential, commercial and leisure sectors.

We have seen a number of serious fires, including major incidents in London and Edinburgh where the evidence suggests strongly that the volume of timber in the construction contributes to the fire hazards and the risks to constructions workers and
firefighters alike. Fire development is extremely rapid and generates very large amounts of heat flux.

The report contains a series of findings and some accompanying recommendations.

The full report is available here.


	03 April 2009
Joint Submission to the Minister - Timber Framed Buildings
In 2007, the Chair of the Practitioners’ Forum and the then Director of Fire & Resilience agreed that the Forum should establish a Task & Finish Group to examine emerging concerns over rapid fire spread in timber-framed buildings. The Group, which included FRS staff and trade union representatives as well as officials from CLG, HSE and the Building Research Establishment, reported back to the Practitioners Forum in February 2009 and to the Business & Community Safety Forum in March 2009. Timber Framed is an accepted method of construction and, along with many other forms of Innovative Construction Products and Techniques (ICPT), is becoming more popular with builders and developers. These constructions are found across the range of building type including residential, commercial and leisure sectors. We have seen a number of serious fires, including major incidents in London and Edinburgh where the evidence suggests strongly that the volume of timber in the construction contributes to the fire hazards and the risks to constructions workers and firefighters alike. Fire development is extremely rapid and generates very large amounts of heat flux. The report contains a series of findings and some accompanying recommendations. The full report is available here.