Building Bulletin 100 (BB 100) is a landmark publication in improving fire safety in schools. BB100 is both a design tool and a management aid showing clearly how the requirements for life safety, enshrined in the Building Regulations, can be met in the design of a new school or an extension. What makes it different from previous fire safety guides is that it stresses the importance of protecting the fabric and building envelope of schools. Each year around one in 20 schools experiences a fire and nearly 60 per cent of school fires are started deliberately.

The real problem with fires in schools is the scale of the property losses - with £100m recorded in 2002 alone. However, these are just direct losses from insurance claims; the true cost is likely to be even higher. Uninsured losses that may occur include; the hire of temporary accommodation during the rebuild, costs of pupil transportation, loss of coursework and teaching aids and importantly disruption of pupils’ education. Fires in secondary schools are a frequent occurrence; 42 per cent report a fire occurring in one year with the average loss being £100,000 (DCLG Research Bulletin No 10 – Survey of School Fires 2006). The cost in terms of lost investment and refurbished buildings together with ‘interruption to business’ and the wrecking of pupil’s work and staff resources cannot be overstated.

BB100 makes it clear that protecting the fabric of a school from arson is high priority and has a clear warning about the risk of combustible materials in cladding: “The external envelope of a building should not provide a medium for fire spread if it is likely to be a risk to health or safety. The use of combustible materials in the cladding system and extensive cavities may present a risk in tall buildings.”

Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) LPS 1181: 2003: Part1: Issue1 is the most commonly recognised and referenced standard relating to the fire performance of composite panels. Importantly, LPS 1181 has two grades: Grade Ext-A refers to a product that satisfies the requirements for both fire resistance and reaction to fire test and Grade Ext-B refers to a product that satisfies the reaction to fire test only. All Eurobond composite panel products have a Grade Ext-A rating - a pre-requisite when true fire resistance is required. It is important to recognise that unqualified references to or association with LPS1181 together with the use of words such as ‘firesafe’ does not confer non-combustible properties to a plastic foam PIR panel.

Zurich – one of the largest insurers in the world – has provided a guide to the design and protection of school and academy buildings which echoes the standards set out in BB100. It states that only composite panels complying to Grade EXT-A will be acceptable for walls and these must have a minimum integrity and insulation of 30 minutes.

The LPS1181 test standard only looks at fire attack from the inside to outside and therefore, LPS1181 provides no certified fire performance for external arson attack. However, external arson attack can be resisted if the wall construction offers symmetrical fire performance and uses non-combustible materials – ‘the non-combustible building envelope’. Eurobond stone wool cored panels are non combustible as defined by BS EN ISO 1182 - by stark contrast plastic foam PIR panels are not. The BB100 confirms this and states “In order to reduce the risk of external fires (such as arson) damaging the structure, combustible cladding should not be used for the ground floor level.” Despite this guidance, combustible materials are still used in the construction of schools as they meet very basic fire resistant guidelines.

Eurobond has long championed the use of non-combustible materials in composite cladding panel systems. As well as BB100 and the Zurich Guide, non-combustible cored products are also recommended by the Fire Safety Order’s accompanying guides on fire risk assessment and fire precautions and the draft of the NHS Fire Code. Eurobond’s Europanel, and Rockspan products are increasingly being specified due to their superior fire performance. They are all manufactured using a Rockwool stone wool core, which is non-combustible and will not ignite in the event of fire, nor contribute to fire spread or smoke emissions.