FIRE ENGINEERING AND ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (ESD) DESIGN – A CASE STUDY

This paper presents a case study which demonstrates the use of fire engineering to resolve fire-safety issues arising from building design based on Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) principles. The case studied is a 4-storey public building, which contains a large atrium void that runs centrally along the length of the building. The ESD design for the building demands it to be internally “open ” to allow free natural airflow, and to have minimum mechanical air-handling system. These are fundamentally in conflict with the Building Code of Australia (BCA) prescribed requirements, which call for compartmentation, atrium bounding construction and a high-volume smoke exhaust system. In order to resolve the conflicts, a fire engineering solution that commensurate with the ESD design was developed. The key strategy was to utilise the same airflow paths and openings to naturally vent smoke out of the building from the atrium roof, instead of a high-volume smoke exhaust system. The open nature of the building is retained and the atrium space is utilised as a smoke reservoir. As part of the fir