Replacement fire protection solutions for a pick tower building - case study

Abstract

Polish construction law and technical and building regulations allow for deviations from the requirements with appropriate alternative solutions. Modern buildings often require an individual approach due to the fact that the current regulations do not keep up with the constantly emerging modern technical solutions. This requires the development of engineering design documentation in the form of a technical opinion on the state of fire protection, prepared by building and fire protection experts. This documentation, previously agreed with the locally competent Regional Fire Chief of the State Fire Service, is submitted through the local building authority to the Minister responsible for construction issues. The subject of the article is the development of a justified set of alternative solutions for a warehouse building equipped with pick tower racks. Modern computer methods, simulations of evacuation, smoke extraction and construction were used to justify the solutions used. Determination of the mutual influence of the applied solutions on the expected level of fire safety allowed to confirm the validity of the adopted design concept. As a result, a complete fire protection concept was obtained, which, after its application to the documentation of the construction project, will allow safe use of the building. The analyzed building was implemented in Poland and, using the described fire safety concept, passed all stages of the investment process.