Feeling the heat

A Roundtable with GST Holdings, Lubrizol and Watania

MENA Infrastructure asks a panel of experts for their opinions on fire protection in the region.

“The majority of Civil Defense Departments within the region are also insisting that the products installed must have been certified and tested by a recognised independent testing laboratory”
-Lee Dunn

The Panel:
Lee Dunn , Commercial Director of Global Systems Technology, Global Systems Technology PLC
Gary Johnson, Global Business Development Manager, Lubrizol
Eng. Sherif Shaker, Chairman, Watania Group

What are the key challenges in managing fire protection systems in a mega project environment? Does the scale of such projects provide any unique challenges?
Lee Dunn. The main challenges in mega project environments needs to be managed by design. British, European and American standards all address the fundamentals of design, these designs need to be upheld and implemented by the designer. Most design engineers have good practical skills when it comes to standard risks however with mega projects it is essential that the designer looks deeply at detection response time.

Apart from detecting the fire, one of the most critical roles is to evacuate the building in the least possible time without creating panic. Voice alarm is now a standard solution for most buildings and provides an excellent means to safely evacuate a building. People are subjected to all sorts of daily sounds and a simple sounder or bell operating is often ignored and even if the occupant understands the meaning they often wait to see if it is a false alarm. These delays greatly affect the safe evacuation of the building. Voice alarm systems can provide clear unambiguous multi-lingual instructions to evacuate the building or to wait for further instructions.

Gary Johnson. As basic as it sounds, one of the greatest challenges faced when installing a fire protection system today – especially in larger projects – is properly sizing the fire sprinkler pipe. Light hazard, ordinary hazard and extra hazard areas all have different pipe schedules. In addition, there is not consistency for establishing pipe size between the various countries, as many areas in the Middle East are still using the outdated pipe schedule system. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) stopped using the pipe schedule system in the early 90s because it had proved inefficient. The organisation has since aggressively promoted the use of a hydraulically calculated system, which determines the size of the pipe based on the NFPA density required as a result of the available water supply. This newer, more efficient method takes into account water flow, sprinkler head specifications, static pressure, pressure loss through friction, and many other factors in order to calculate a given density of water necessary to meet the NFPA-determined fuel load. The end result is a properly sized system that delivers just the right amount of water to extinguish the fire.

Sherif Shaker. The key challenges include: co-ordination with the contractors, examples are conflicts between tender drawing and workshop drawing and actual execution; the availability of technicians and skilled labours, including labour safety, where it is very hard as for some cultures to be able to adapt and be educated about the safety, as it wastes time and cost money; time frame and cost effectiveness, where unfavourable change in plans or schedules causes delay of the process; and, price factor versus quality is one of the key issues raised lately, which gave the opportunity to unqualified companies to downfall the quality of products for all the process and introduce products of no quality as for less price to gain the bids.

The Middle East region has numerous such mega projects currently under development. How are the latest technologies helping to protect such developments from the risks associated with fire?
GJ. Fortunately, there are many newer technologies that have improved the overall performance, as well as lowered the costs, of today’s fire sprinkler systems.  For example, specially listed heads today have better throw characteristics, which result in fewer heads being required. There are now also specially listed products, such as CPVC, that have 150 C factors (compared to the 120 C factor of steel pipe). This translates into fewer heads and much smaller pipe to yield a significant material and labour cost savings. Since CPVC is immune to the effects of pitting, scaling and corrosion (including microbiologically influenced corrosion/MIC), it also offers a reliable method of protecting even the largest projects against the risk of fire damage. As a specialty listed product, CPVC piping systems have undergone more rigorous testing and been subject to more scrutiny than many other traditional piping products.

SS. Developments in mega projects construction is based on mainly two divisions: Firstly: the pipeline networks example new light UPVC pipes and fittings, were developed for an easier and faster installation instead of the heavy and long time process of yielding, grooving and threading.

Secondly: mode and control of protection systems, example ASFR and EXLO available now at a high quality manufacturer like Reliable which helps less quantity of sprinklers and less interference in the civil area. Fairbanks introduced new pumps with high discharge flow that exceeds 26 bars which facilitates the pump stations usage rather than before, as it used to cost money, time and efforts for the whole building process. Notifier also developed a whole system for supervision and control, which grants a full access even from home.

LD. Fire detection systems have greatly improved over the years and now most high quality detectors have their own on board processor that stores algorithms with thousands of test fires, these algorithm’s have been gathered over the years. The detector refers to these algorithms and quickly makes a decision. This speeds up the time for the device to respond as the detector is no longer reliant on the control panel to make the decision. In addition most high quality systems have drift compensation. This feature is an excellent solution to avoiding unwanted alarms. The drift feature changes the alarm curve, which is set under factory conditions, and adjust this curve linearly as and when the device becomes contaminated by dust and particles present in everyday environments. This keeps the detectors response at an optimum level, when the device has come to the limit of its compensation it will notify the panel that it is need of maintenance. This feature alone if utilised can avoid thousands of unwanted alarms.

Typically the last system to be installed on a jobsite, the fire protection system often has to meet tight installation timeframes. How can project managers ensure that the functionality, reliability and cost-effectiveness of their chosen solution are not compromised by the need to meet tough installation deadlines?
SS. Back again to the point of co-ordination and clear vision of the supplier and the contractor of the site to be exact on the process schedule. The existence of the materials and the suppliers in the right time in accordance to each other. Managing the right number of qualified engineer foremen and labours to support each task stage in the job. Tools availability to ensure the installation and erection process mechanism. Using/choosing the right testing procedures in accordance to the manufacturer manual and international codes.

LD. Fire protection and detection systems are chosen unfortunately at the end of the mechanical and electrical procurement. The main reason I believe this is, they are not really regarded as an enhancement to the building environment. Choosing your fire protection system providers is critical to the quality of the systems that are to be installed. There are many new companies emerging within the industry and often they have little expertise in fire. It is essential to choose a company that has a local technical support team with factory-trained engineers. This support can be called upon to assist the installer with the technical aspects of completing the project professionally.

Choosing a system that has international approvals is fundamental when choosing your manufacturer. Most leading companies can provide you with certificates for both LPCB and UL. These two independent approval bodies are considered the leading approval bodies. Companies complying with these requirements have spent thousands of dollars ensuring that the product being produced meets the highest standards and can be relied upon.

GJ. Tough installation deadlines are not a problem when utilising newer labour-saving technologies, such as CPVC, which drastically reduce installation time by eliminating the need for soldering for copper and shop fab or welding for steel. A fast and easy solvent cement joining system allows CPVC fire sprinkler systems to be installed in nearly half the time, while also removing the mess, cumbersome equipment and fire risks associated with soldering welding or steel fabrication equipment on the job site.

How are new standards and regulations improving approaches to fire protection in the Middle East region?
LD. The MENA region is definitely improving, over the last few years Civil Defense Departments throughout the region have cracked down on design and approval standards and are now in general insisting that systems are designed, supplied and installed in conformity with either BS/EN or NFPA design standards. The majority of Civil Defense Departments within the region are also insisting that the products installed must have been certified and tested by a recognised independent testing laboratory.

GJ. The NFPA is currently in the process of expanding its guidelines to more countries around the globe. This includes its recommendations to only use a hydraulically calculated system. Dubai is an example of a region undergoing this conversion. It is estimated that, today, more than 50 percent of the systems are still being installed using the outdated pipe schedule method that requires larger pipe and more costly pipe size changes. As owners discover the potential cost savings, specifiers will feel the pressure to utilise the more efficient hydraulically calculated systems. Since all UL-listed CPVC fire sprinkler systems are hydraulically calculated, this trend will also ensure the increased use of CPVC pipe and fittings. As a result, owners and facility managers will benefit from a system that is not only more cost- and time-efficient, but also highly reliable against the effects of corrosion.

SS. New standards assure the initiation of the process of the design, ensure the devices performance and the resting and maintenance procedures of the system are effective. An example are the NFPA rules, which are the most common association of setting codes starting from design till system performance as it is a result of experience and tests that ensures the results and quality for such projects.

Fire protection

Speed of installation was a priority on the fire protection installation in the Emirates hangars situated north of Dubai International Airport. The $353m Emirates facility sits on 55 hectares and its freight hangars together form the largest free-spanned structure in the Middle East. The roofs are supported by 110 metre-long single spans and the construction has meant that the facility now ranks as one of the world’s largest civil aviation engineering centres.

During construction, the main contractors, Emirates Trading Agency (ETA), which designed and installed the entire fire protection main loop and deluge system for the hangars, were faced with a range of challenges because of the size of the installation. Fire protection systems traditionally use 2inch/305mm pipes, but due to the size of the job, 32 inch/813mm diameter pipes had to be used throughout the main loop. One hundred and fifty valves were installed to enable maximum coverage throughout the hangars, and the larger pipe diameter and increased proximity of deluge valves ensured that the volume of water required for such an expansion could be dispersed through the system within seconds if required. Thanks to sophisticated forecasting and planning procedures at Victaulic, the deluge valves were on-site only four days after the order was placed.