Exploring Fire Risk in Building Facades - More than Skin Deep

The recent high profile façade fire events in tall buildings in London and Dubai have sparked a renewed focus within the design community on demystifying best practices involving the complex relationship between life safety codes, fire risk and combustible materials used in design of facade assemblies. To meet this demand, beginning in 2018, the Boston Society of Architects, Building Enclosure Council is sponsoring a two part panel discussion educational series on the relationship of fire risk and building façade design.

In this series, you will learn about the science of fire propagation within facades and the myriad code required fire tests used to evaluate combustible materials and assemblies, the logistics required by manufacturers to demonstrate conformance with fire tests, and the disposition of building code officials on project specific fire tests and engineering judgements involving NFPA 285 assembly tests. You will also learn about new efforts initiated by manufacturers to assemble and publish assembly fire test data in a central repository and new test methods initiated by insurance stakeholders to more accurately determine fire risk of materials.

This exciting new series brings together key disciplines involved in the design and execution of building facades including Architects, Fire Protection Engineers, Building Code Officials, Contractors and Manufacturers in what will be a lively and informative discussions.

Moderator:
Luke A. Niezelski of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc.

Panelists:
• Understanding Low and Mid Rise Fires: Brian D. Kuhn Jr. PE and Derek McCowan of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc.
• Manufacturer Perspective: Chris Armstrong of Pace Representatives
• Contractor Perspective: Jamie Evans of Turner Construction