Fireproof building with concrete

At Willy Naessens Industriebouw, an analysis is made of the fire safety of a construction at an early stage in each project. An important aspect here is preventing a building from collapsing. The stability of the construction must be guaranteed for a sufficient period of time to enable evacuation and intervention by the fire brigade: this is called fire resistance (indicated by letter R) of a construction. Concrete is characterized by its high fire resistance and is the material of choice for fire-resistant constructions. As standard, a concrete construction has a structural fire resistance of 1 hour (R60). This fire resistance can easily be extended to 2 hours (R120) or 4 hours (R240). For this reason, fire-safe constructions are often designed in concrete.

Moreover, fire spread to surrounding buildings and between various compartments must be avoided. Compartmentalization of spaces slows down the spread of a conflagration. This is done by creating a separation that is both flame-tight (indicated by E) and also thermally insulated (indicated by the letter I). A fire partition can be a wall element or a floor element and can have a fire resistance of 1 hour (EI60), 2 hours (EI120) or even 4 hours (EI240). Here too, concrete is again the preferred element: concrete partition walls easily achieve these fire resistance levels and floor elements such as concrete vaults also meet this requirement. In addition, prefab concrete staircases ensure safe, simple and economical escape routes.

Concrete structures not only have a high fire resistance, but also a great resilience. Thanks to their robustness, they can withstand impact. In addition, a building in concrete also has a high thermal inertia.

Building in concrete therefore offers a fire-safe, economical and sustainable solution!