resilience

Sorry Excuse For A Fire Evacuation Staircase In The Grenfell Tower – Supported By Shoddy ‘Expert’ Evidence !

Posted 2024-10-6 by CJ Walsh

2024-10-06: After reading the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations (Chapter 33) … I was naturally curious about what would be happening during the next phase. Paragraph 34.14 in Chapter 34, however, struck me as strange, even unbelievable … the single narrow #Stairs in the Tower would NOT be the subject of further investigation in Phase 2..

This is the Ridiculous Single Narrow Fire Evacuation Staircase in the High-Rise Residential Grenfell Tower …

Although the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Recommendations (Chapter 113) concluded by looking back to Phase 1, and specifically mentioning Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (#PEEP) … nothing was said about the Fire Evacuation Staircase. Case closed. And there is only one word to describe this outcome: ‘FUBAR’ !

Struggling to understand that highly questionable decision … a deep dive into the Phase 1 ‘Expert’ Technical Evidence led me to this Page from Report BLAS0000019, dated 2018-10-24 …

Three Important Documents Relevant To Competent Fire Evacuation Staircase Design :

Orientation Manual for First Responders on the Evacuation of People with Disabilities, Document FA-235 / August 2002, published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (#FEMA) in the #USA. Yes indeed, this document was published way back in 2002, and is still freely available on the Internet.

A vital piece of information with regard to the Firefighter’s Lift, and the serious harm which can be inflicted on People with Disabilities by its use …

In the absence of an operable Lift/Elevator Fire Evacuation Assembly in a building … which is still usually the norm … this photograph provides vital information with regard to the Correct, Best and Least Hazardous Method of assisting the evacuation of a person using a Manual Wheelchair. Electric wheelchairs are too heavy, and too awkward in shape, to be lifted down/up a Fire Evacuation Staircase, even with three sturdy individuals assisting. Note that some elaborate, highly-adapted and very expensive manual wheelchairs cannot facilitate being lifted. In all cases, however, Vulnerable People requiring Mobility Aids will be most reluctant to leave them behind in an emergency … and they MUST be allowed to keep their personal aid.

Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Centre Towers 1 & 2 (on 2001-09-11), Document NIST NCSTAR 1 / September 2005, published by the National Institute of Standards & Technology (#NIST) in the USA. Refer to Recommendation 17 on pages 215 and 216.

[ Contraflow Circulation, in a Fire Building: Emergency access by firefighters or rescue teams into a building and towards a real fire, while building users are still moving away from the fire and evacuating the building. ]

Contraflow Circulation during a Fire Emergency is essential. This facilitates rapid and safe movement of firefighters towards Fire Protected Lift/Elevator Lobbies and Areas of Rescue Assistance in order to check on the presence, or otherwise, of Vulnerable People who may be waiting for rescue.

Once Firefighters enter a Fire Building … and without provision for #Contraflow Circulation … the ordering of a ‘Stay Put’ Policy for building occupants is the only difficult option … but this is NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE.

Carefully examine the photograph below. Firefighters wearing heavy protective clothing and also carrying firefighting equipment require far, far more circulation width than 510 mm !! However, this staircase is still not wide enough to facilitate unhampered building user evacuation. Notice how people have to twist sideways in order to allow firefighters to pass … and this inevitability slows down evacuation progress in the ‘real’ world.

International Standard ISO 21542: Building Construction – Accessibility & Usability of the Built Environment, published in 2011 and revised in 2021. Standardizes good design for accessibility and the safe usability of buildings, which has been common practice for many decades.

Basics Of Staircase Design … Going, Rise, and Height of Handrails … ON BOTH SIDES of every flight of stairs …

Basics Of Staircase Design … Clear Unobstructed Width – Between 2 Continuous Handrails. ALL Fire Services MUST adopt this single understanding of ‘clear unobstructed width’ of a staircase !

Basics Of Staircase Design … Staircases pose a serious hazard, especially during the stressful process of Emergency Evacuation … HAZARD Tactile Walking Surface Indicators (stippled, for hazard) at the TOP and BOTTOM of every flight of stairs. Concerning this particular design issue, British Standards and English Building Regulations MUST be ignored !

Basics Of Staircase Design … Handrail Tactile Plates, essential for the evacuation information to be used by people with a visual impairment in an emergency. Refer to Figure 38 in ISO 21542. However, this is a much more informative photograph … from one of my previous visits to Japan. Notice the high colour contrasting …

Basics Of Fire Evacuation Staircase Design … The Clear Unobstructed Width of 1.50 metres between Continuous Handrails on a Fire Evacuation Staircase facilitates Contraflow Circulation, the Safe Assisted Evacuation of People in Manual Wheelchairs, and Stretcher Evacuation of Building User and/or Firefighter Victims during an emergency.

CONCLUSIONS

Having been directly involved in the drafting of national and international Accessibility Standards and Technical Guidance since the 1980’s … I am really, really annoyed by the inept and incompetent misuse of raw anthropometric data to try to justify the width of this sorry excuse for a Fire Evacuation Staircase in the Grenfell Tower … and inflicting the Firefighter’s Lift/Carry on People with Disabilities is NOT ACCEPTABLE. This shoddy ‘expert’ evidence clearly demonstrates a profound ignorance of Building Design, and about how ‘real’ people use ‘real’ buildings.

My great fear is that the technical justification for this shambolic fire evacuation staircase will become a benchmark for similar shambolic staircases in other buildings … not just in England, but in other jurisdictions who are dim-witted enough to copy England’s bad example … whatever it does.

Professional building design, construction and technical control disciplines, who practice in England, MUST carefully read … and keep re-reading, as necessary … Paragraph 113.12 in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report … which is expressed in too mild a form for my liking …

Our investigations have shown that levels of competence in the construction industry are generally low and that by the time of the Grenfell Tower fire many contractors, designers and building control officers treated the Statutory Guidance as containing a definitive statement of the legal requirements. It is understandable that those who turn to the Guidance for advice about how to comply with the Building Regulations should be tempted to treat it as if it were definitive … We therefore recommend that a revised version of the guidance contain a clear warning in each section that the legal requirements are contained in the Building Regulations and that compliance with the Guidance will not necessarily result in compliance with them.

I must go further … where the Technical Guidance in any of the English Approved Documents is known to be inadequate, or even suspect, it is the ethical duty and responsibility of a true professional to find a better way of complying with the relevant Functional Requirements in Building/Fire Regulations.

In addition, and specifically in relation to Building Fire Safety … it is necessary, at the same time, to comply with ALL of the relevant Functional Requirements in England’s Building Regulations … that means NOT ONLY WITH REQUIREMENT B … BUT ALSO WITH REQUIREMENTS A, K & M (for a start) ! The recent publication of a single document which merges ALL of the Approved Documents is a small step in the right direction of improving a deeply flawed body of building legislation.

Competent Building Design / Ethical Building Design … Lies Beyond Codes !!

END

#FireSafety4ALL #NobodyLeftBehind #NeverStayPut #VulnerablePeople #SustainableFireEngineering #SFE #GrenfellTowerFire #GrenfellTowerInquiry #ShoddyTechnicalEvidence #FireEvacuationStaircase #EthicalDesign #BeyondCodes #PeopleWithActivityLimitations #PwAL #WHO #ICF #PeopleWithDisabilities #PwD #Accessibility4ALL #InclusiveAccessibility #FUBAR

Inclusive Accessibility of The Built Environment & Successful Implementation In Japan

Posted 2024-09-14 by CJ Walsh

2024-09-14: Inclusive Accessibility of the Built Environment – ‘Accessibility for All’ – is a dynamic, continuously evolving concept … the effective implementation of which is essential if we are to realize a Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Built Environment … for ALL, i.e. including everybody, every ‘Person’ in society … particularly ‘Vulnerable People’.

Whether it’s People with Activity Limitations (2001 WHO ICF), or #Refugees, or #Migrants … how does ‘Inclusion’ differ from ‘Integration’ ?

Graphic Image, in colour, showing the meaning of ‘social inclusion’… and differentiating that concept from ‘integration’, ‘segregation’, and ‘exclusion’. Always grateful to Solidarité Lilloise Étudiante (So’Lille – France) for this very clever and informative image. Click to enlarge.

Vulnerable People :

Those people – in a community, society or culture – who are most at risk of being physically, psychologically or sociologically wounded, hurt, damaged, injured, or killed … and include, for example, people with disabilities, young children, people with health conditions, frail older people, women in late pregnancy, refugees, migrants, prisoners, the poor, and homeless.

People with Activity Limitations (2001 WHO ICF) :

Those people, of all ages, who are unable to perform, independently and without assistance, basic human activities or tasks – because of a health condition or physical / mental / cognitive / psychological impairment of a permanent or temporary nature.

Accessibility of a Building :

Encompasses the complete cycle of independent use of a building – in a dignified manner and on an equal basis with others – including the approach, entry and usability of the building and its facilities, services and information/communication systems, egress from the building during normal conditions and removal from its vicinity and, most importantly, evacuation during an emergency to a place of safety remote from the building and reached by way of an accessible route … by all of the building’s potential users, with an assurance of their health, safety, welfare and security during the course of those activities.

Successful Accessibility Implementation : [ Principle 2 – 2015 Dublin Declaration on ‘Fire Safety for All’ in Buildings ]

Successful Accessibility Implementation … meaning high quality accessibility performance in the built environment … is reliant upon:

A robust Legal Base mandating accessibility for all and fire safety for all ;
Determined Political Will ;
Sufficient public Financial Resources ;
A compassionate and understanding Bureaucracy at all levels ;
Competence … meaning duly educated, trained and experienced in accessibility and fire safety design … spatial planners, architects, structural engineers, fire engineers, quantity surveyors, technical controllers, industrial designers, building managers, and people at all levels in construction organizations ;
Independent Monitoring of accessibility and fire safety performance ;
Innovative, well-designed accessibility and fire safety related Products and Systems which can be shown to be ‘fit for their intended use’.

Accessible Train Toilet Room in Japan :

Colour Photograph (3 of 7) showing an Accessible Train Toilet Room in Japan. Photograph by CJ Walsh. 2024-04-13. Click to enlarge.

Colour Photograph (4 of 7) showing an Accessible Train Toilet Room in Japan. Photograph by CJ Walsh. 2024-04-13. Click to enlarge.

Colour Photograph (5 of 7) showing an Accessible Train Toilet Room in Japan. Photograph by CJ Walsh. 2024-04-13. Click to enlarge.

Colour Photograph (6 of 7) showing an Accessible Train Toilet Room in Japan. Photograph by CJ Walsh. 2024-04-13. Click to enlarge.

Colour Photograph (7 of 7) showing an Accessible Train Toilet Room in Japan. Photograph by CJ Walsh. 2024-04-13. Click to enlarge.

Principle 9 – 2004 Rio Declaration on Sustainable Social Development, Disability & Ageing :

Concerted and properly resourced programmes of #Disability and #Age Related education and training should be provided in every U.N. Member State … at all levels … to politicians, educationalists, bureaucrats, administrators, and technical personnel connected, directly or indirectly, with the spatial planning, design, construction/de-construction, operation, management and maintenance of the Human Environment – in order to ensure that the implementation and monitoring of disability and age related Sustainable Social Policies, and the requirements of International Law, are competent and effective.

The #Dignity, #Privacy, #Autonomy and #Independence of every #Person should be respected.

Every U.N. Member State should adopt measures for the production and management of national disability and age related #Statistics – within an agreed and harmonized international framework – which are impartial, reliable, objective, scientifically independent, and accessible to the Public.

For #Survival and #Liberation, the priority targets for a comprehensive range of disability and age related sustainable social policies should be …

– Residential Buildings ;

– Public Transport … including buses, coaches, taxis, trams, trains, ferries, ships and planes ;

– Educational Buildings ;

– Places of Work.

Good #Education, within a context of Lifelong Learning for All, and Good #Employment are important keys to Social Inclusion.

For #Health and #SocialWellbeing, the priority targets for a comprehensive range of disability and age related sustainable social policies should be …

– Health Facilities ;

– Electronic, Information & Communication Technologies (#EICT’s) ;

– Civic Buildings ;

– Existing Buildings & Infrastructure … of Historical, Cultural or Architectural Importance.

In the short term, properly resourced programmes of work should be carried out and monitored in all U.N. Member States – in order to ensure that the Human Environment (social, built, institutional and virtual) is effectively Accessible for All.

END – But More Examples To Follow !

#Inclusive Accessibility #Accessibility4ALL #VulnerablePeople #PwAL #2001whoICF #PwD #FrailOlderPeople #Buildings #BuiltEnvironment #SocialInclusion #RioDeclaration2004 #FireSafety4ALL #DublinDeclaration2015 #NobodyLeftBehind #EthicalDesign #UNmemberStates #InternationalLaw #Sustainability #SocialWellbeing4ALL

Shocking Uncontrolled e-Waste Generation & Disposal To Landfill !

Posted 2024-03-22 by CJ Walsh

2024-03-22: The United Nation’s 4th Global e-Waste Monitor (#GEM) Report has revealed that the world’s generation of Electronic Waste is rising five times faster than documented e-Waste Recycling.

The 62 Million Tonnes of e-Waste generated in 2022 would fill 1.55 million 40-tonne trucks, roughly enough trucks to form a bumper-to-bumper chain encircling the equator.

Colour Photograph showing various types of e-Waste … a typical scene at a Recycling Centre. Not every Centre is properly managed. And there are many parts of the world where there are no Centres at all, and e-Waste goes straight to landfill causing serious health and environmental problems for local communities. Click to enlarge.

Less than one quarter (22.3%) of the year’s e-Waste Mass was documented as having been properly collected and recycled in 2022, leaving over Euro €57 Billion worth of recoverable natural resources unaccounted for, and increasing pollution risks to local communities. Worldwide, the annual generation of e-Waste is rising by 2.6 Million Tonnes annually, on track to reach 82 Million Tonnes by 2030, a further 33% increase from the 2022 figure.

E-waste, any discarded product with a plug or battery, is a health and environmental hazard, containing toxic additives or hazardous substances such as mercury, which can damage the human brain and co-ordination system.

Colour Image showing the Title Page of the United Nation’s 4th Global e-Waste Monitor (GEM) Report. Click to enlarge.

2024 UNITAR / ITU Global e-Waste Monitor (GEM) Report

[ Download PDF File, 15.06 MB ]

The Report foresees a drop in the documented collection and recycling rate from 22.3% in 2022 to 20% by 2030 due to the widening difference in recycling efforts relative to the staggering growth of e-Waste generation worldwide. Challenges contributing to the widening gap include technological progress, higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product life cycles, society’s growing ‘smartness’, design shortcomings, and inadequate e-Waste management infrastructure.

The Report also notes that the world ‘remains stunningly dependent’ on a few countries for rare earth elements, despite their unique properties crucial for future technologies, including renewable energy generation and e-Mobility.

Colour Image showing the e-Waste Status of Africa in 2022. Click to enlarge.

31 Million Tonnes … Estimated weight of metals embedded in e-Waste in 2022, along with 17 Million Tonnes of plastics and 14 Million Tonnes of other materials (minerals, glass, composite materials, etc.)

17.6 Kg … Per Capita e-Waste generation in Europe, followed by Oceania (16.1 kg) and the Americas (14.1 kg)

5.1 Million Tonnes (8.2% of Global Total) … e-Waste shipped across borders in 2022, of which approximately 3.3 Million Tonnes (65%) was shipped from high-income to middle/low-income countries through uncontrolled, undocumented movements

NOTE: Cross national border ‘exporting’ of e-Waste – ANY Waste – Is NOT Recycling !

33% (20.4 Million Tonnes) … Proportion of e-waste made up of small devices (e.g. toys, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners, e-cigarettes), of which 12% are recycled

END

#UN #UNITAR #ITU #eWaste #WEEE #PVpanels #SmartSociety #IoT #AI #SmartPhones #SmartTV #Recycling #RenewableEnergy #e-Mobility #EV #ElectricVehicles #Landfill #LithiumIonBatteries #ScarceNaturalResources #RareEarthMetals #HealthHazard #ClimateDisruption #Cobalt #HumanRights #EnvironmentalHarm #VirtualEnvironment #MilitaryEwaste #SpaceEwaste #Africa #Sustainability #SustainabilityImpactAssessment

Sustainability Impact Assessment (#SIA): A continual evaluation and optimization process – informing initial decision-making, design, shaping activity / product / service realization, useful life, and termination or final disposal – of the interrelated positive and negative social, environmental, economic, institutional, political and legal impacts on balanced and equitable implementation of Sustainable Human & Social Development.

The International Fraud of Plastics Recycling & E.U. Statistical Reliability ?!?

Posted 2024-02-17 by CJ Walsh

2024-02-17: A very recent Report: The Fraud of Plastic Recycling – How Big Oil and the Plastics Industry Deceived the Public for Decades and Caused the Plastic Waste Crisis … published by the Centre for Climate Integrity ( www.climateintegrity,org ), in Washington D.C., #USA … raises serious issues about whether Any Plastic Recycling is technically or economically viable at scale … and serious questions, by implication, about Statistical Reliability in the European Union (#EU) concerning Recycling generally, and Plastics Recycling in particular.

Could this also be the Reason why the Global North is so busy dumping Un-Recyclable Plastics in the previously colonized territories of the Global South ???

Short Extract From This Report’s Introduction …

Plastic Pollution is one of the most serious Environmental Crises facing the world today. Between 1950 and 2015, over 90% of plastics were landfilled, incinerated, or leaked into the environment. Plastic Waste is ubiquitous – from our rivers, lakes, and oceans to roadways and coastlines. It is in ‘the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink’. One study estimates that humans ingest up to five grams, or the equivalent of one credit card worth of plastic per week. Some of the largest Oil and Gas Companies are among the 20 petrochemical companies responsible for more than half of all single-use plastics generated globally. #ExxonMobil, for example, is the world’s top producer of single-use plastic polymers.

Underpinning this Plastic Waste Crisis is a decades-long campaign of #Fraud and #Deception about the #Recyclability of #Plastics. Despite their long-standing knowledge that recycling plastic is neither technically nor economically viable, petrochemical companies – independently and through their industry trade associations and front groups – have engaged in fraudulent marketing and public education campaigns designed to mislead the public about the viability of plastic recycling as a solution to Plastic Waste.

February 2024

The Fraud of Plastic Recycling – How Big Oil and the Plastics Industry Deceived the Public for Decades and Caused the Plastic Waste Crisis

[ Download PDF File, 2.82 MB ]

This Report’s Conclusion …

By deceiving consumers, policymakers, and regulators about the viability of Plastic Recycling, petrochemical companies have ensured the continued expansion of plastic production, which has led to a Plastic Waste and Pollution Crisis for communities across the country. The costs of managing and cleaning up Plastic Waste are largely borne by municipal and state governments – and those costs are projected to increase exponentially in the coming decades, given that Plastic Waste generation in the United States of America is expected to increase from 73 million metric tonnes in 2019 to more than 140 million metric tonnes by 2060.

If not for the Big Oil and the plastic industry’s lies and deception, municipalities and states would not have invested in plastic recycling programmes and facilities – many of which have been shut down due to foreseeable economic losses. The industry not only misled municipal and state agencies to believe that Plastic Recycling was a viable solution to Plastic Waste but also discouraged them from pursuing other, more Sustainable Waste Management Strategies (e.g., waste reduction, reuse, bans, alternative materials) in favour of plastic recycling.

Fossil fuel and other petrochemical companies should now be held accountable for their deliberate campaign of deception and the resulting harms, much like tobacco and opioid companies that employed a similar playbook. Based on the growing body of evidence, municipalities and states are likely to pursue litigation, which could put an end to the industry’s deception, make the companies pay for the devastating harms they have caused to communities, and open the door to real solutions that are currently out of reach.

February 2024

Link To … Excerpts of Key Documents Cited in ‘The Fraud of Plastic Recycling’

(PDF File, Warning 30.53 MB)

END

#Sustainability #InternationalFraud #Plastics #PlasticsRecycling #EUstatisticalReliability #GlobalNorth #GlobalSouth #PlasticPollution #EnvironmentalCrisis #PlasticWaste #OilCompanies #GasCompanies #TechnicalViability #EconomicViability #PlasticsIndustry #BigOil #ClimateIntegrity #Reliability #Resilience #SustainableWasteManagementStrategies #SIA #SustainabilityImpactAssessment

Sustainable Fire Engineering Design & Process – Using No Way, As Way

Posted 2023-10-11 by CJ Walsh

2023-10-11: Theory is one thing, but the practical working out and implementation of Sustainable Fire Engineering Design is something else …

The (Sustainable) Fire Engineer will already be an active, contributing member of a collaborative Project Design Team. So, very early on in the Design Process for a Simple Building / Complex Building / Innovative Building / High-Rise Building / Tall Building or Group of Buildings (whatever) … he or she has a relatively mature sketch design on which to work, and major elements of the design can still be modified, without cost implications, based on her or his Creative Solutions which positively support and aid – not hinder, weaken or dilute – the Project Team’s Design Intent.

The Sustainable Fire Engineer should always / must, therefore, have a minimum competence with regard to Building Design and Construction in order to effectively communicate and creatively collaborate in these Design Teams.

[ Recommendation: Instead of looking down on, or discriminating against, Architects … they should be warmly welcomed into the International Community of Fire Engineering … where their particular expertise is badly needed.]

A blank sheet of paper, pencil in hand … or, if you prefer, an empty monitor screen, with mouse poised to move … and how to proceed … should it be this fire safety strategy (?) … or a different, more appropriate fire safety strategy (?)

Sustainable Fire Engineering Design Objectives …

[ Reality – Reliability – Redundancy – Resilience ]

Achieve a Reliable Level of ‘Fire Safety for All’ ;

Facilitate Resilience: Protect Property & Assure Firefighter Safety ;

Minimize Environmental Impact & Mitigate Climate Disruption ;

Adapt to Climate Disruption ;

Nurture Sustainability ;

Incorporate Ease & Reasonable Cost of Post-Fire Reconstruction.

At this early stage in the Design Process … treat Conventional Fire Codes as an irrelevancy in the context of the above Design Objectives … question the adequacy of out-dated, simple prescriptive solutions … and forget about European and North American biases with regard to Passive and Active Fire Protection Measures. Investigate new Sustainable Building Materials & Smart Technologies. Incorporate Factors of Safety throughout the Fire Engineering Design Process. Always remember Defence in Depth and Redundancy. Prioritize Construction Reliability.

Sustainable Design: Green Walls & Fire ?

‘Green Walls’ (also known as Planted Facades, Living Walls, Vertical Gardens, and Vertical Landscapes) is a general term which covers the architectural use of natural vegetation as a vertical element in buildings, both externally and/or internally ; intrinsically, each ‘Wall’ is different. To be absolutely clear from a fire engineering viewpoint, there is no such thing as a ‘standard’ green wall which can be fire tested in a laboratory. There are many benefits and advantages to these Walls … but, in future, they will play an important role in dealing with Climate Disruption, particularly the Urban Heat Island Effect in cities and large towns.

If properly installed and maintained … properly nourished and watered depending on local environmental conditions … Green Walls will not pose a fire hazard. But those are a lot of ‘ifs’ !

Remembering Defence in Depth … the installed ‘sub-soil’ watering system for a Green Wall may be interrupted or break down, so a Smart Water Mist System will help with hydration of the vegetation, and cooling for building occupants/users, as Climate Disruption intensifies. Some of the trees, shrubs or plants may wither and die, so a Water Sprinkler/Deluge (as appropriate) Fire Suppression System will deal with any accidental or intentional outbreaks of fire.

Photograph, in colour, showing a street view at the rear of the Twin Tower, Multi-Storey Bosco Verticale Project in Milan, Italy. In the view shown, ‘Green Wall’ covers a wide range, from a simple planted façade on the left to a vertical forest (Italian: bosco verticale) on the right. With natural vegetation, similar types of ‘Wall’ can be very different. Photograph by CJ Walsh 2023-06-07. Click to enlarge.

An Introduction to Green Walls … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_wall

Explore the International Work of Patrick Blanc, French Botanist and Artist, at: https://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com … and his collaboration with Ar.Jean Nouvel on One Central Park, Sydney, a Tall Building Project completed in 2014 … https://www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com/realisations/sydney/one-central-park-sydney

Also of Interest … 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design – Improving Health & Wellbeing in the Built Environment … https://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/reports/14-patterns

Colour Photograph showing the Twin Tower, Multi-Storey Bosco Verticale Project in Milan, Italy. Designed by Ar.Stefano Boeri, it was completed in late 2014. Early research based on an examination of the 900 trees (23 species) in the Project revealed that some adapted better to a challenging high-level environment than others, and trees on the upper floors were more stressed, requiring 20 percent more water. Photograph by CJ Walsh 2023-06-07. Click to enlarge.

END

#SFE #SustainableFireEngineering #SustainableDesign #GreenWalls #ProjectSpecific #CreativeSolutions #SustainableFireEngineeringDesignObjectives #Architects #Reality #Reliability #Redundancy #Resilience #DefenceInDepth #FactorsOfSafety #ClimateDisruption #ClimateSynergies #ClimateTippingPoints #PlantedFacades #LivingWalls #VerticalGardens #VerticalLandscapes #BoscoVerticale #Milano #Italia #StefanoBoeri #JeanNouvel #Sydney #SustainableBuildingMaterials #SmartTechnologies #UrbanHeatIslandEffect #FireSafety4ALL #Firefighters #FFsafety #PropertyProtection #EthicalDesign #BeyondCodes #Sustainability #SIA #SustainabilityImpactAssessment #BiophilicDesign #SmartWaterMistSystem #WaterFireSuppressionSystem

Sustainable Buildings – An Immediate & Unprecedented Challenge Demanding Genuine Collaboration !

Posted 2023-09-26 by CJ Walsh

2023-09-26: At the time of writing, the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly is taking place in New York City. Midway through the U.N. Sustainable Development Framework Agenda 2015-2030 … News about its failing progress is very discouraging …

> Amid growing geo-political crises and war, Multi-Lateralism has little chance to operate successfully and there is a growing stalemate within the Security Council ;

> Extreme Weather Events (e.g. heatwaves, droughts, severe storms and rainfall, flooding) are becoming a regular occurrence across the Globe, and their impacts are already devastating ;

> Only 15% of the Sustainable Development Goals are barely on track, while development gains in other SDG’s have reversed ;

> Not only are Climate Disruption Targets not being met, but global greenhouse gas emissions are actually increasing.

[ U.N. 2023 Sustainable Goals Report – Special Edition … https://sdgs.un.org/documents/sustainable-development-goals-report-2023-53220 ]

[ An Outside View: How much Progress is being Made on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals ? … https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/09/un-sustainable-development-goals-progress-report ]

Earlier this month (September 2023), the #UN published a Report: United in Science 2023 – Sustainable Development Edition … https://library.wmo.int/idurl/4/68235

Compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (#WMO) under the direction of the U.N. Secretary-General, it brings together the latest updates from key U.N. Partner Organizations with a focus on weather-, climate-, and water-related sciences, research and services in support of realizing Sustainable Human & Social Development:

Climate Disruption …

Total Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) Emissions from fossil fuels and land use change remained high in 2022 and the first half of 2023. Fossil fuel CO₂ emissions increased 1% globally in 2022 compared to 2021, and global average concentrations continued rising through 2022 and the first half of 2023.
The years from 2015 to 2022 were the eight warmest on record, and the chance of at least one year exceeding the warmest year on record in the next five years is 98%.
It is estimated that current mitigation policies will lead to global warming of around 2.8 °C over the course of this century compared to pre-industrial levels. Immediate and unprecedented reductions in Greenhouse Gas Emissions are needed to achieve the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, i.e. 1.5 °C.

Graphic Image, Figure 6 in colour, from the InterGovernmental Panel on Climate Change (#IPCC) 6th Assessment Report’s 2023 Summary for Policy-Makers. It shows that there is a rapidly narrowing window of opportunity to realize climate resilient development, and how multiple interacting choices and actions can shift development pathways towards Sustainability. Click to enlarge.

Sustainable Cities & Communities …

Cities are responsible for a high proportion of global GHG Emissions and are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate disruption and extreme weather events, which threaten the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 11.
Integrated urban weather, climate, water and environmental services, grounded in best-available science and research, are helping Cities to achieve SDG 11.
Observations, high-resolution forecasting models and multi-hazard early warning systems are the fundamental basis for integrated urban services.

Good Human Health & Social Wellbeing …

Trans-Disciplinary Research is fundamental to analysing, monitoring and addressing climate-sensitive health risks and climate impacts on the health sector.
Climate disruption and extreme events are projected to significantly increase ill-health and premature deaths, as well as population exposure to heatwaves and heat-related morbidity and mortality.
Scaling up investments in climate-resilient and low-carbon health systems, and progress towards universal health coverage (#UHC) are critical for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3.

Graphic Image, Figure 1 in colour, from the recently published UN WMO Report: ‘United in Science 2023 – Sustainable Development Edition’. It shows how genuinely collaborative weather-, climate-, and water-related sciences, research and services – together – support the achievement of the United Nations (#UN) Sustainable Development Goals (#SDG). Click to enlarge.

[ The 2030 UN Sustainable Development Framework Agenda is Unequivocally Anchored in Human Rights … Leave No One Behind … https://www.ohchr.org/en/sdgs/about-2030-agenda-sustainable-development ]

Deep & Genuine Construction Sector Collaboration …

[ Institutional Transformation ]

It is inevitable, therefore, that enormous pressures – social, economic, political, legal, and institutional – are being brought to bear on Building Design Professions, Engineers (all disciplines) and Construction Organizations to rapidly, reliably and creatively transform our existing Built Environment ; new buildings, which constitute just a small part of that workload, will be required to carry the heaviest burden. To properly realize a Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Built Environment for ALL, however, Genuine Collaboration must be fostered … between each actor in the construction sector … between practitioners and scientists/researchers … and between different industrial sectors … silos broken apart and traditional barriers transcended.

Sustainable Buildings – Reality vs. Superficial Impressions …

The minimum Life Cycle for a Sustainable Building is 100 years.

To be capable of later #Adaptation, a Sustainable Building must possess a sufficient/appropriate, level of #Redundancy. Lean construction ignores this issue.

Far too many people appear to be still ‘wrestling’ with an obsolete understanding of #Sustainability. It has many more than just 3 Aspects (social, environmental, economic). Time for everyone to cop on and catch up !

[ Legal Aspects of Sustainable Human & Social Development: If the World is Serious about Sustainability, it must Embark on a New Era of Global Law … https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/global-governance-sustainability ]

The International Fire Engineering Community, in particular, has a fixation with low-hanging fruit … ‘PV Panels’, ‘Timber Buildings’ … and ‘Performance-Based Fire Codes’, which are a hybrid of prescription (rather than Functional Fire Codes, which offer a more free, more open, and flexible option for designers).

So … before moving on in my next Post to look at the potential for Green Walls being a fire hazard, and comparing a top-down Sustainable Fire Engineering Design Approach with a bottom-up Conventional Fire Safety Approach … here is an interesting graphic image, developed by an architectural colleague in Berlin, Ar.Stefanie Blank, showing the difference between all-too-common superficial impressions and the reality of Sustainable Buildings …

Graphic Image, in colour, which compares ‘What people think Sustainable Building is’ with ‘What Sustainable Building actually is’. There is a world of difference between ‘reality’ and ‘superficial impressions’. The immediate and unprecedented challenge is the poor performance of existing buildings. Click to enlarge.

Sustainable Fire Engineering Road Map …

An earlier Post … https://www.cjwalsh.ie/2022/12/sustainable-fire-engineering-road-map-to-a-safe-resilient-sustainable-built-environment-for-all … presents the complete Road Map for reading and/or download.

As I have written many times before, the concept of Sustainable Human & Social Development is intricate, open, and dynamic … and it is also continuously evolving. So too, the #SFE #RoadMap must continuously evolve.

Fully reflecting the content and views expressed above, it is necessary to further expand the Sustainable Fire Engineering Design Objectives on Page 10 of the Road Map … in order to clearly and directly integrate the issue of Climate Disruption …

Graphic Image, in colour, which lists SFE’s revised Project-Specific Fire Engineering Design Objectives … which cover the safety of building users and firefighters, protection of property and the environment, mitigation/adaptation to climate disruption, and finally, sustainability. This revision is dated May 2023. Click to enlarge.

END

#Twitter (#X) … @sfe2016dublin …

#SustainableDevelopment #UNGA #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #SDG #ClimateDisruption #ExtremeWeatherEvents #GenuineCollaboration #ConstructionSector #SustainableBuildings #GHGemissions #UnitedInScience #SustainableCities #HumanHealth #SocialWellbeing #ArStefanieBlank #Berlin #NewYorkCity #PVpanels #TimberBuildings #BuiltEnvironment #PerformanceBasedCodes #FireCodes #FunctionalFireCodes #FireSafety #Resilience #Reality #Reliability #Redundancy #HumanEnvironment #InstitutionalEnvironment #Transformation #Creativity #BuildingDesign #FireEngineering #IPCC #FireEngineeringDesignObjectives #ClimateSynergies #ClimateTippingPoints

Urgent Need For Harmonized European Fire Statistics & The ‘FIRESTAT’ White Elephant !

Posted 2023-08-21 by CJ Walsh

2023-08-21: In an earlier Post here, dated 2022-12-19, I presented a Road Map for Sustainable Fire Engineering (#SFE) … which finished on an Urgent Call to Action targeting three specific, fundamental aspects of a Creative Fire Engineering which is capable of answering the challenges of our Complex Built Environment in the 21st Century … under severe threats from Global Climate Disruption, Climate Synergies leading to near-term Climate Tipping Points … and a startling lack of Global Resilience, refer to the CoVID-19 Pandemic, and Supply Chain Chaos initiated by an old-fashioned Cold War I Warrior in Washington’s White House.

1. 1. Mainstreaming a Transformed Fire Engineering
  2. Ethical Practice of Fire Research and Science
  3. Reliability of Fire Statistics …

Colour Image showing the #SFE Road Map’s Conclusion, Page 31 in a series of 36, from the updated (June 2022) Presentation on Sustainable Fire Engineering ~ its essential and critical role in realizing a Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Built Environment For ALL. Click to enlarge.

From Any Point Of View … the Final Report of ‘EU FIRESTAT’, a project financed by the European Parliament and commissioned by European Commission Directorate-General DG GROW, is a white elephant … a plodding hippopotamus … a retrograde step … a bitter disappointment !!! Completed in July 2022, it comes nowhere near outlining a viable system for the development of urgently needed Harmonized European Fire Statistics … which must be managed and co-ordinated by #Eurostat, in Luxembourg.

The #FIRESTAT Objectives were extremely limited …

‘ The review proceeds from the assumption that fire incident data can serve a number of important purposes – helping to reduce fires and losses, identifying opportunities for safety interventions and education programs, guiding the allocation of public resources to areas of greatest need and impact, and monitoring progress of safety initiatives.’

Nowhere, in this Report, is there any reference to Sustainable Human and Social Development. Where there are references to ‘sustainability’, these are specifically concerning the long-term financial resourcing of statistical systems.

And nowhere is there even the faintest understanding that Fire Engineering has an essential and critical role in the realization of a Safe, Resilient & Sustainable Built Environment For ALL. Fire Engineering Performance Indicators, Targets and Benchmarks must be developed to facilitate that realization ; and Reliable Fire Statistics are their starting point and basic ingredient.

[ The European Standards Organization (#CEN) has a Webpage dedicated to its part in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (#SDG’s) at … https://www.cencenelec.eu/european-standardization/sustainable-development-goals-sdgs/ ]

The Report’s Executive Summary (in English, French, and German) covers the limited range of the Project pretty well … and it is almost easy to read. The ‘great and the good’ of Conventional Fire Engineering, both organizations and individuals, were involved in this Project …

Colour Image showing the cover of the EU Project ‘FIRESTAT’ Final Report, completed in July 2022, with the full title of the Project: ‘EU FIRESTAT – Closing Data Gaps & Paving The Way For Pan-European Fire Safety Efforts’ in the middle of the Page ; the European Commission Logo at the top of the Page ; and against a background of an EU Flag in the lower half of the Page, the list of 9 International Fire Safety Organizations in the Consortium which carried out the Project. Click to enlarge.

EU ‘FIRESTAT’ – Closing Data Gaps & Paving The Way For Pan-European Fire Safety Efforts

(Download PDF File, 128 Pages, 2.56 MB)

The Final Report’s Boxed Recommendation 3, on Page 8, lists 8 Variables / Statistics to be collected as a Tier 1 / 1st Priority across Europe, from Ireland all the way down to Türkiye :

Number of Fatalities ;
Number of Injuries ;
Age of Fatalities ;
Primary Causal Factor ;
Type of Building ;
Incident Location ;
Incident Date ;
Incident Time.

So, for instance … the only Fire Statistic related to the Human Condition of Fatalities and Injured which would have been gathered after the 2017 Grenfell Tower Fire in #London was … Age of Fatalities … which, in the context of what actually happened on that tragic night and knowing the very large numbers of People with Activity Limitations (2001 WHO ICF) and other Vulnerable Building Users who died, or were injured, in the fire … is a very serious error, and entirely ridiculous !!??!! FUBAR !!

Essential Variable / Statistic Correction: Age, Gender and Vulnerability of Victims (whether Fatality or Injured). This is critical information and, whatever the resource implications, must be collected.

And if that wasn’t bad enough … this cack-handed approach to the development of Harmonized European Fire Statistics opens up the probability of another Morán with a computer, after a similar fire incident, again showing that a similar High-Rise Residential Tower could be evacuated down a single, narrow, badly designed staircase in 7 minutes. Say no more !!!

**J’Accuse** / I Accuse the International Fire Engineering Community of being intentionally and maliciously **Deaf, Dumb and Blind** to the desperate Fire Safety Needs of People with Activity Limitations, including People with Disabilities, and other Vulnerable Building Users !

Concerning Incident Date … the Consortium appears to be completely unaware that the European Standard Short Format Date is … Year-Month-Day (YYYY-MM-DD) !! See 4.2.2. in the Final Report. Sloppy, Sloppy, Sloppy.

Generally concerning Tier 1 Statistics … where is there any serious consideration of the deep and substantial Green / Environmental / Climate Disruption Mitigation and Adaptation Measures being imposed on the Design and Operation of New and Existing Buildings … which are already causing serious fire safety problems ??? See many previous Posts on this Technical Blog.

Colour Image showing #IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report Figure 5a: ‘Limiting warming to 1.5 C and 2 C involves rapid, deep and in most cases immediate greenhouse gas emission reductions’ … from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 6th Assessment Report. Current emission reduction policies will result in global warming of approximately 3.2 C, which is far off target. Click to enlarge.

The Final Report’s Boxed Recommendation 3, on Pages 8 & 9, goes on to list 6 Extra Variables / Statistics to be collected as a Tier 2 / 2nd Priority across Europe, from Portugal all the way up to Finland :

Number of Floors ;
Area of Origin ;
Heat Source ;
Item First Ignited ;
Articles Contributing to Fire Development ;
Fire Safety Measures Present.

Concerning Fire Safety Measures Present … my patience is at an end ! I am heartily sick and tired of pointing out that there is no such thing as a ‘Fire Door’ ; it does not exist !! It is ALWAYS a Fire Resisting Doorset !!! See 4.4.3.

This EU ‘FIRESTAT’ Report properly belongs to the Twilight Zone of the last Century … and in today’s Recycling Bin !

And Even More Worrying …

Concerted Resistance to answering the Fire Safety Needs of Vulnerable Building Users ;

The mistaken view that ‘Sustainability’ is merely a graft-on / optional extra to Conventional Fire Engineering ;

Constraining Building Fire Safety Performance within the boundaries of Current Fire Codes ;

Is the EU ‘FIRESTAT’ Final Report another disturbing sign of the growing Trend towards #GREENWASHING in International Fire Engineering ?

END

#Twitter … @sfe2016dublin …

#RoadMap #SustainableFireEngineering #Reality #Reliability #Redundancy #Resilience #SustainableDevelopment #SDG #SustainableBuildings #GrenfellTowerFire #ClimateDisruption #ClimateSynergies #ClimateTippingPoints #Cities #FireCodes #Architecture #FireEngineering #SpatialPlanning #DesignTools #BIM #BeyondCodes #Ethics #CodeOfEthics #EthicalDesign #DefenceInDepth #FireSafety4ALL #VulnerableBuildingUsers #Firefighters #FFsafety #Creativity #Sustainability #SIA #SustainabilityImpactAssessment #SocialTransformation #SocialWellbeing4ALL #FireStatistics #PerformanceIndicators #Benchmarking #PerformanceTargeting #FireResearch #Green #Environmental #GreenWashing #ClimateAdaptation #GHG

Properly Understanding China’s Uncompromising Assertiveness … Before It’s Too Late !

Posted 2023-06-28 by CJ Walsh

2023-06-28: Sustainability is not an abstract concept, divorced from current geo-political realities. Lasting Peace and Robust International Law are fundamental prerequisites for Sustainable Human and Social Development … a truth forgotten, and/or conveniently set aside, by all parties to the savage and immensely destructive #USA #NATO #EU / #Ukraine / #Russia #War.

USA, 60 Years Ago …

In the tense atmosphere of the Cold War with Russia, and just after the Cuban Missile Crisis a few months earlier … a short extract – inspiring words – from President John F. Kennedy’s Commencement Address at the American University, Washington D.C., on 10 June 1963 …

[ Read and/or listen to #JFK’s Full Speech here: https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-university-19630610 ]

” … I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived – yet it is the most important topic on earth: World Peace.

What kind of peace do I mean ? What kind of peace do we seek ? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children – not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women – not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.

I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age when great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe and to generations yet unborn.

Today the expenditure of billions of dollars every year on weapons acquired for the purpose of making sure we never need to use them is essential to keeping the peace. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles – which can only destroy and never create – is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace.

I speak of peace, therefore, as the necessary rational end of rational men. I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war – and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task. …”

Fast Forward 60 Years To The Present …

The #GroupFeeling towards #China (#PRC) in the same Washington D.C. is an irrational and disturbing mixture of paranoia, panic, fear, jealousy, and war fever. All too easily, other countries have been sucked into the Hegemonic Agenda of President Joe Biden – an old fashioned, mid-20th Century Cold War Warrior. Pax Americana, USA #Exceptionalism, weaponisation of the #Dollar, widespread #Sanctioning (at this stage, who isn’t being sanctioned ?), illegal #Trade restrictions, and blatant #HumanRights hypocrisy (see the recent UN Report on the USA #Guantánamo Detention Facility in #Cuba) are all being quietly rejected by the Global ‘South’ and ‘East’.

But who today, in the ‘West’, understands China’s assertiveness … and why it must be uncompromising ? The #USA’s ideologically-driven ignorance has led, in the past, to enormous blunders … Viet Nam, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, etc., etc.

On 25 November 2020, I was very pleased to give a Virtual Presentation to a private discussion group …

Colour Image showing the Title Page for CJ Walsh’s Presentation: ‘Resilient China After Century Of Humiliation’. In the centre, an aerial view over the city of Wuhan. Below, the Title Block for the presentation. At the top, a list of the countries responsible for China’s humiliation. Click to enlarge this image. Use the link below to download the Full Presentation of 10 Pages.

CJ Walsh Presentation (2020-11-25): ‘Resilient China After Century Of Humiliation’

Click to download Presentation, 10 Pages, PDF File 5.55 MB

Using #Taiwan to bait China and ramp up military tensions can only end badly for the ‘West’. China’s ‘Century of Humiliation’ is over … President Xi Jinping, and the Communist Party of China (#CPC) Central Committee, will certainly not allow that sad history to repeat itself.

The proposal by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) to open an office – any type of office – in #Japan is not only ridiculous … it is preposterous.

China is not an enemy of the European Union (#EU) … Ursula von der Leyen (President of the European Commission) and Josep Borrell (High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) would do well to remember that !

[ Footnote 1: Use of Cluster Munitions in Armed Conflicts …

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (https://www.clusterconvention.org/) – adopted in Dublin on 30 May 2008, and became binding #InternationalLaw when it entered into force on 1 August 2010 – was born out of a collective determination to address the humanitarian consequences and unacceptable harm to civilians caused by cluster munitions. States Parties to the Convention are committed to the full universalization of the #CCM and to promote its norms, as well as to fully implement it. Its implementation contributes to advancing the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (#SDG’s) and the promotion of International #Peace and #Security, #HumanRights and International Humanitarian #Law.

Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 1 – General Obligations & Scope of Application

1. Each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances to:

(a) Use cluster munitions ;

(b) Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions ;

Question: If the vast majority of NATO Member Countries have ratified this Convention … why has the USA been permitted to supply these munitions to Ukraine ?? ]

[ Footnote 2: Xi Jinping’s Visit to Ireland in February 2012 …

END

#Twitter … @walshcj69 …

#China #UncompromisingAssertiveness #Sustainability #LastingPeace #RobustInternationalLaw #ColdWarI #CubanMissileCrisis #JohnFKennedy #WorldPeace #PaxAmericana #VirtualPresentation #ResilientChina #CenturyOfHumiliation #ClusterMunitions #Ireland #XiJinping

Sustainable Fire Engineering – Road Map To A Safe, Resilient & Sustainable Built Environment For ALL

Posted 2022-12-19 by CJ Walsh

2022-12-19: Following on, directly, from the 2016 Dublin Code of Ethics …

[ A personal Code of Ethics – is / must be – the basis for Effective Sustainability Implementation ]

Multi-Disciplinary Input > Trans-Disciplinary Output

Sustainable Fire Engineering (SFE) is a Facilitator – no more than Architecture, Structural Engineering, or Spatial Planning – in the task of realizing a Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Built Environment for All. However, SFE has an essential role to fill throughout the difficult journey towards that target. In close collaboration with other design disciplines, many iterations … twists and turns along the road … will be necessary.

Beware Greenwashing !

Sustainability is NOT a graft-on, or an optional extra, to Conventional Fire Engineering. This intricate, open, dynamic and continuously evolving Concept must cut right to the core of everyday design practice, and must positively impact all areas of that practice.

Ethical Transformation

In this third decade of the 21st Century … the Safety Objectives in current Fire Codes / Regulations are limited, inadequate, and lagging far behind today’s creative moulding and re-shaping of the Built Environment ; they are almost, but not entirely, irrelevant in the context of the urgently required transformation of conventional fire engineering. For anybody who cannot see the broad, beautiful landscape beyond codes and regulations … this SFE Road Map is definitely not for you. For those who can see, your constant companion … your compass … will be a Personal Code of Ethics.

Essential Considerations Before Starting Out On The Road …

1. World Trade Centre Attacks in New York City, on 11 September 2001. Two sets of important Recommendations were issued by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2005 and 2008. Not only is the implementation of these still incomplete, but the solid progress which has been made e.g. on Firefighter Safety, is continuously under threat from vested interests. Other jurisdictions have tended to ignore the Recommendations. SFE takes full account of this Extreme Man-Made Event.

2. Grenfell Tower Fire in London, on 14 June 2017. Evidence at the Official Inquiry continues to shock and horrify ; the entire fire safety regulatory edifice in England is dysfunctional, and it poses a real and serious danger to Public Health and Safety. Inquiry Phase 1 Recommendations were issued in 2019. Already, the Recommendation concerning Evacuation for Vulnerable Building Users & PEEP’s (#33.22 e and f) has been discarded by AHJ’s … and it has also been stated (#34.14) that as everything about the single narrow staircase in the Tower appeared to be OK, it will not be investigated in Inquiry Phase 2 … a sure sign of dysfunctional dysfunction ! SFE sees beyond these major flaws.

3. Sustainable Buildings Il Bosco Verticale Towers in Milano … this exciting Project, designed by Stefano Boeri and completed in October 2014, has become the International Icon for innovative / environment-friendly construction. These new approaches to building design are posing enormous fire safety challenges. [ Remember back … was it 15 years before fire codes were able to ‘solve’ the Atrium in buildings ? ] SFE, however, must cope with this extraordinary level of architectural creativity ; and Fire Engineering Practitioners must be capable of active participation, collaboratively, within Project Design/Construction Teams.

Looking past the Milan Project … it is important for the reader to experience a more rounded flavour of where the exciting synergy between Creative Design and the Inclusive Language of Sustainability is at present, and where it is tending to go …

UN HABITAT ~ World Cities Report 2022 ~ ‘Envisaging the Future of Cities’ … https://unhabitat.org/sites/default/files/2022/06/wcr_2022.pdf

Ar. Vincent Callebaut, France … https://www.vincent.callebaut.org/

Ar. Stefano Boeri, Italy … https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/en/

Ar. Olando DeUrrutia, Spain … https://deurrutia.com/

4. Building Energy Performance Rating Schemes Under enormous environmental and political pressures, the headlong rush to conserve energy in buildings, and to make them more energy efficient … especially after the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine … is proceeding in blissful ignorance of fire safety and necessary independent technical controls. Measurement of real building performance, after energy refurbishment has been completed, is generally avoided.

The Road Ahead … From Gro Harlem Brundtland To Reliable Fire Statistics …

Sustainable Fire Engineering Road Map

Realizing a Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Built Environment for All

(Download PDF File, 36 Overheads, 2.94 Mb)

This SFE Road Map takes account of feedback received after it was first presented on the LinkedIn Group … Sustainable Fire Engineering (#SFE) Network ~ #EthicalDesign #BeyondCodes #DefenceInDepth #SIA … from July to October 2022. Further updated and revised in May 2023.

END

#Twitter (#X) … @sfe2016dublin …

#SFE #RoadMap #SustainableFireEngineering #Reality #Reliability #FireInducedProgressiveDamage #WTC911 #SustainableDevelopment #SustainableBuildings #GrenfellTowerFire #ClimateDisruption #ClimateSynergies #UNFCCC #ClimateAdaptation #IPCC #Cities #FireCodes #Architecture #FireEngineering #SpatialPlanning #DesignTools #BIM #BeyondCodes #Ethics #CodeOfEthics #EthicalDesign #CJWalsh #DefenceInDepth #FireSafety4ALL #VulnerablePeople #Firefighters #FFsafety #Creativity #Wildfires #Bushfires #IncendiBoschivi #IncendiosForestales #OrmanYangınları #IncêndiosFlorestais #FeuxDeForêt #Resilience #Sustainability #SustainabilityImplementation #SustainableDesignInternational #Redundancy #SIA #ClimateTippingPoints #SustainabilityImpactAssessment #SocialTransformation #SocialWellbeing4ALL

Ar C.J. Walsh Technical Blog – Registered Architect, Fire Engineer & Independent Technical/Building Controller …… International Expert on Accessibility for All (including Fire Safety) + 'Real' Sustainability Implementation !

resilience

Search This Blog

Music While You Browse

Archive Since 2008

Links

Post Categorization

Recent Comments

Categories

Meta