Non-residential construction

Fire safety – A hot item in non-residential construction

In the mid-1990s, the European Construction Products Directive (CPD) was published. The directive regulates the properties of building materials, including how they perform in a fire. Before this time, cables only received attention as a potential fire hazard.

The publication of the European Construction Products Directive (CPD) made the building industry aware of the risks associated with the increasingly larger quantities of cables in buildings and tunnels - risks that are less and less accepted as an inevitable factor.

Facts

Approximately 80% of electrical engineering systems consists of cables and conduits that are usually concealed and spread through a building bundled together and that link different areas together. The cables account for approximately 90% of all the plastic materials in electrical engineering systems.

Cables therefore play an important role. This certainly the case when you consider the quantities of cables used in buildings and tunnels. Office buildings contain up five kg of cable per square metre.

Safety assured

Insurance companies impose requirements for the fire safety of buildings. Non-compliance with these requirements can lead to higher premiums, limited cover and even insurance refusal. The use of halogen-free cabling that does not easily catch fire significantly reduces risks and avoids protracted arguments with insurance companies.

For more information about our cables for use in non-residential construction, please see our product catalogue.