Structural Steelwork Fire Protection
As steel frames often form the ‘backbone’ of buildings with a high number of occupants, keeping them safe is a high priority. Structural steel fire protection can help ensure this.
Exposure to fire seriously damage the frame and may lead to eventual building collapse. While it may not melt until reaching more than 1,300°C, structural steel will begin to weaken at about 300ºC and increases rapidly after 400ºC. At 550ºC steel loses approx. 40% of its load bearing strength providing catastrophic consequences.
Fire protection for steel beams and columns reduces the risk of the frame weakening and slows down the spread of fire, protecting occupants.
At Peritus PFP we successfully develop solutions with our clients to enable installation of steel frame protection safe in the knowledge that partnering with market leading manufacturers and integrating their systems into the fire strategy can enable beam and column encasement to achieve a significant level of protection of up to 4hrs.
Furthermore, the benefit of board and lining systems is that whilst the protection can be a concise cut to profile and aesthetically pleasing design, the protection remains extremely durable and moisture resistant whilst offering high levels of acoustic performance – al in conjunction with the desired fire protection.
