TECHNICAL COMMISSION 11 - FIRE PROTECTION

General

Basic and individual requirements for fire protection are directly regulated in the state building regulations or in ordinances and guidelines. However, existing buildings and in particular cultural monuments are often in conflict with the applicable fire protection regulations, which makes it difficult to continue using them authentically without impairing them. Nevertheless, appropriate fire protection must be ensured in the event of further use or conversion. The current fire protection regulations are primarily directed at new buildings, which is why there are virtually no manageable regulations for existing buildings. The Wissenschaft-Technische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Bauwerkserhaltung und Denkmalpflege e. V. now concentrates on this topic. (WTA) and has therefore founded the new department "Fire Protection".

Building on the recommendation "Fire protection of half-timbered buildings and timber constructions" already drawn up in technical commission 8, the technical commission "Fire Protection" plans to create suitable working tools for the appropriate handling of fire protection in existing buildings with practice-oriented recommendations and to actively support the planning and execution processes in the future. Since in practice it often turns out to be difficult both to assess the fire protection performance of existing structures and to use construction products in accordance with regulations, it is also planned to systematise the relevant basic principles and make them available to experts. In September 2016, DIN e. V. adopted a basic standard (DIN 18009-1:2016-09) in order to improve acceptance by building authorities of the use of engineering-compliant proofs of fire safety. The development of this standard was supported by active participation in the relevant standardization committee by WTA e. V.. The requirements of this norm therefore also explicitly apply to existing buildings and architectural monuments. The aim here is to get away from the fulfilment of fixed component requirements and to allow these to be replaced by engineering-compliant, protection goal-oriented proofs. The aim of the technical commission is therefore also to describe the concrete application possibilities of the fire protection engineering methods for existing buildings.

The following are planned to be important topics for the preparation of leaflets:

• Basics of fire protection in existing buildings
• Fire protection for architectural monuments
• Identification and systematization of inconsistencies
• Classification of existing components
• Development of "certification rules" or testing principles
• Application of fire protection engineering methods
• Presentation of successful practical examples
• Fire protection assessment of technical systems in existing buildings

Gerd Geburtig (Test Engineer for Fire Protection, Bauhaus University Weimar, Honorary Professor for Fire Protection) has taken over the temporary head of the department.

The first presentation meeting took place on 7 March 2019.
If you are interested in active cooperation, please contact the office of the WTA e. V. or the temporary head of department