2015-06-29 …
Sustainable Fire Engineering – Effective Fire Safety in Sustainable Buildings !
6-8 April 2016 Dublin, Ireland
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www.sustainable-firengineering.ie
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Approved Regional Sustainable Built Environment Conference in the 2016-17 Series
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Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin, Ireland
Céad Míle Fáilte (Hundred Thousand Welcomes) to Dublin, in Ireland … and to the First Major International Conference devoted to this hot subject !
The 21st Century has had a complicated birth … extreme man-made events, hybrid disasters, severe natural events, complex humanitarian emergencies, with accelerating climate change and variability. The old certainties are crumbling before our eyes …
Realizing a Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Built Environment for All will require a new set of targets, a change in focus, and a deliberate transformation from within the International Fire Science & Engineering Community. And for those of you in the fast-growing International Sustainability, Climate Change & Urban Resilience Communities … careful elaboration of Fire Engineering Design Objectives, at the beginning of your project, is the key to successful implementation without compromise.
Please join us in Dublin … as we explore, and examine more closely, Sustainable Fire Engineering … in an informal, multidisciplinary and pre-normative context. Expect a creative, trans-disciplinary outcome !
INTRODUCTION
Fire Losses – both direct and indirect – amount to a very significant percentage of GDP in all economies, whether they are rich or poor … and result in enormous environmental damage and social disruption. Fire Engineering, including Fire Prevention and Protection in Buildings, is a major multi-billion Euro/Dollar component of the Construction Industrial Sector – worldwide.
Unfortunately … a fundamental conflict exists between Sustainable Building Design Strategies and the fire safety responses adopted in today’s Conventional Fire Engineering. To take a simple example: for cooling, heating or ventilation purposes in a Sustainable Building, it is necessary to take advantage of natural unobstructed patterns of air movement in that building. On the other hand, fire engineers in private practice and control personnel in Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ’s) will demand that building spaces be tightly compartmented in order to limit the spread of fire and smoke … dramatically interfering with those natural patterns of air movement.
Unusual fire behaviour and a range of difficult fire safety issues (critical, in the case of firefighters) also arise from the Innovative Design Features (for example, ‘green’ roofs, elaborate intelligent façades) and Building Products / Systems (for example, photovoltaic panels) being installed in Sustainable Buildings.
A wide chasm separates the language and understanding of these two very different design disciplines. As a result, the performance of Sustainable Buildings can be seriously compromised. If, on the other hand, adequate independent technical control is absent on site … it is fire safety which is weakened.
And because, in most countries, the emphasis is placed on pre-construction design intent rather than the ‘real’ performance of the completed/occupied building … these problems are ignored and remain hidden … until a serious fire breaks out !
SFE AIM
The Aim of Sustainable Fire Engineering is to dramatically reduce direct and indirect fire losses in the Human Environment (including social, built, economic, environmental, virtual, and institutional) … and to protect and preserve the Natural Environment.
Towards Zero Preventable Fires in the Built Environment !
In essence … Sustainable Fire Engineering must heavily front-load Fire Prevention and Fire Protection Measures … above and beyond the minimal and very limited fire safety objectives mandated by current legislation.
SFE’s Keywords are … Reality – Reliability – Redundancy !
SFE Design Solutions must be …
• Adapted to local geography, climate change and variability, social need, economy, and culture ;
• Reliability-based ;
• Person-centred.
SFE 2016 OBJECTIVES
1. To initiate discussion and foster mutual understanding between the International Sustainable Development / Climate Change / Urban Resilience Communities and the International Fire Science & Engineering Community.
2. To bring together today’s disparate Sectors within the International Fire Science and Engineering Community … to encourage better communication between each and trans-disciplinary collaboration between all.
3. To transform Conventional Fire Engineering into an ethical and fully professional Sustainable Design Discipline which is fit for purpose in the 21st Century … meaning … that fire engineers can participate actively in a sustainable design process, and can respond creatively with sustainable fire engineering design solutions which result in Effective Fire Safety for All in Sustainable Buildings.
4. To launch a CIB W14 Research Working Group VI Reflection Document: ‘Sustainable Fire Engineering Design & Construction’ … which will establish a framework for discussion on the future development of Sustainable Fire Engineering.
SFE 2016 WEBSITE
Today ! Visit the SFE 2016 Website at … www.sustainable-firengineering.ie
Download the Conference Flyer … Review the wide range of Topics which will be explored, examined and discussed at SFE 2016 … Submit an Abstract for a Paper … Give serious consideration to becoming an Industry Exhibitor, or an Enlightened, Far-sighted Sponsor !!
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