Best practice guide

To assist in the design, specification and installation of building services penetrations to ensure fire compartmentation is maintained, five leading not-for-profit organisations have launched a Best Practice Design and Installation Guide, Firestopping of Service Penetrations. The aim of the guide is to encourage all stakeholders in construction to consider firestopping design earlier in the process in order to avoid problems at a later stage in construction. It is not an installation manual, but guidance to a good practice approach.

The guide is broken down to provide information on actions that should be carried out during each of the stages one to seven as defined in the RIBA Plan of Work, with a foreword by Dame Judith Hackitt, who said: “This document is the result of a collaboration between a number of relevant trade bodies and organisations representing the wider construction and fire safety industries, and it is an example of the collaborative working and acceptance of professional responsibility throughout the supply chain that must become a feature of the industry’s culture from now on.”

It was produced by the Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP), Building Engineering Services Association (BESA), Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), Finishes and Interiors Sector (FIS) and the Gypsum Products Development Association (GPDA).