The Portal, Nottingham

The proposal was to refurbish an existing building to provide a Tier 3 data facility.

Innovation Fire Engineering were asked to ascertain whether intumescent paint was required on the steelwork as well as the Fireline boarding.

The Building Regulations requirements for fire safety are relevant to new buildings and extensive refurbishments and relate to the safety of people in and around the building in the event of fire. The Building Regulations do not contain requirements for business continuity or protection of assets therefore the relevant guidance for a data centre is an American standard.

Using the requirements of the American standard for business continuity and property protection and the requirements of the Building Regulations for Access and Facilities for the Fire Service it was possible to compare the level of safety in the proposed design with that of the American standard and show that the Tier 3 requirements could be met without the need to further protect the steelwork with intumescent paint which brought a significant cost saving to the project.