We prepare changes in technical standards of fire safety of buildings

The Czech Agency for Standardization has concluded a framework contract with the CTU UCEEB for the solution of a set of 12 analysis tasks, the results of which will influence the future form of the technical standards CSN. The first of them focuses on the fire safety of External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems, internationally referred to as ETICS, which are the most widely used technology in the Czech Republic for improving the thermal-technical parameters of building envelopes. 

The relevant articles of the technical standard CSN 73 0810 came into force in 2016. Since then, the industry has gained new experience in the design and implementation of ETICS, based on which it has made requests to update the standards to reflect current practices and address related areas of concern. Therefore, the Fire Laboratory of the CTU UCEEB, in cooperation with the fire testing laboratory Pavus, a. s., VSB - Technical University of Ostrava and industry representatives, carried out a series of large-scale tests according to the newly prepared European methodology for assessing the fire behaviour of facade systems.

Using the data obtained, we scientifically and relevantly compare all the ETICS tests carried out so far and examine the possibilities of modifying the technical standards, for example, the minimum required dimensions of horizontal and vertical fire strips, possible combinations of insulation materials for buildings with fire heights above 22.5 m or separation distances.