6 - Fire Protection for New and Existing Buildings

Abstract

This chapter highlights fire protection for new and existing buildings, where the structural, electrical, and mechanical systems are designed to meet the needs of the applicable codes. Fire protection must be integrated into the design process and coordinated throughout the construction. New construction projects are usually more straightforward than projects involving changes to existing buildings. In a performance-based design, any change to the building can affect the fire protection systems that meet the performance specifications of the owner. Management of change includes many familiar issues, including changes to building construction, building layout, building systems, occupancy, process design, and storage configuration. The fire protection design process for projects in existing facilities reviews the existing fire protection design, analyzes existing building construction, building systems, occupancy, and fire protection systems, documents new facility goals and the changes required to meet the new goals, analyzes the effects of anticipated changes, determines whether prescriptive or performance-based design will best serve the project, and considers using combinations of prescriptive and performance based designs. Fire protection design can be especially challenging for certain types of renovations to the existing buildings.