When designing a building to the National Building Code of Canada (NBCC), interconnected floor spaces are often required to be equipped with “special protection” fire safety requirements. These requirements often include (but are not limited to) automatic sprinkler coverage throughout all floors, closely spaced sprinklers around floor openings, draft stops at floor openings, vestibule installations at exits, and a manually activated smoke exhaust system for emergency responders.
We had the pleasure of working with an Interior Designer who was in the midst of an office renovation project. The renovated office space was in a three-story office building, and the renovation involved the 2nd and 3rd stories, which are leased by the same tenant. Part of this renovation was to add an open stairway to connect the shared office space on the 2nd and 3rd floors. The cost of implementing all the “special protection” requirements outlined in the NBCC for this office interconnection would have been substantial and would have impacted the proposed renovation plan. We were tasked with assessing the building and office space to be renovated and, if possible, developing an alternative solution that would be more cost-effective than implementing all the NBCC special protection requirements.
Through our expertise in fire modeling, occupant evacuation modeling, and fire safety system design, we developed an alternative solution that eliminated the need for most NBCC special protection requirements. The alternative solution also had a minimal impact on the Interior Designer’s renovation plan.
This project serves as a reminder that the acceptable solutions outlined by building codes should not be treated as a “one size fits all” approach. The NBCC does permit alternative building design approaches. It is our job as Fire Protection Engineering Specialists to understand the fire and life-safety intent of the NBCC acceptable solutions so we can develop acceptable, reliable alternative solutions to protect the public. Alternative approaches to fire and life safety, such as the one described in this blog, can often provide equivalent or enhanced fire safety performance at a fraction of the cost and should be explored whenever possible.