Page 203 - AGC_EN_iBook

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FIRE SaFETy
COmPaRtmeNtaLIZatION aND eVaCuatION
The AGC Glass Building is rated ‘low-rise’ under the re safety norm in effect in Belgium1.
The ground oor is reserved for parking and surrounded by roads open to re ghters. With its three open sides providing natural ventilation, thereby cutting out the need for mechanical ventilation and smoke extraction, the ground oor is nevertheless still consid- ered a ‘compartment’ with regard to the ground- oor lobbies
and is therefore separated by re-resistant glass walls.
The rst and second oors are divided into several interlocking compartments: the four two- oor of ce compartments (with inter- nal connecting staircases), the conference centre and the kitchen and restaurant.
All these compartments connect to the central gallery common to the three oors and constituting an ‘atrium’ compartment in the sense of the re protection norm. In this respect, the gallery has to be tted with smoke extraction and sprinkler facilities.These are subject to the prior approval of the Federal Public Service (FPS) Interior and to an exemption process.
1 - Royal Decree of 7 July 1994 and its amendments, setting the re and explosion prevention requirements to be met by new buildings.
Fig. 1 and 2. Show the layout of the compartments and their evacuation plans
tHe exemPtION
The re prevention concept draws on this ‘non-standard’ constel- lation of the building to propose, not without a certain audacity, evacuation via the gallery/atrium. Although this is forbidden by the re protection norm, it has the advantage of great clarity, since,
in the case of a re, occupants would leave the building the same way they enter.The application for an exemption, accepted by the FPS Interior on 20 December 2012, accordingly describes the pre- vention measures taken to provide a safety level equivalent to that speci ed in the re protection norm.
Smoke extraction in the gallery is done by a set of roof-mounted static vents. As with the inlets for compensatory air, these vents are calculated to maintain the thickness of any layer of smoke below a certain threshold value, thereby enabling the safe evacu- ation of building occupants and not impeding the emergency services.
Fire curtains, located in the centre of the gallery and around the main stairs, serve to channel smoke to stop it spreading and allowing the stairs to be used.