Gulf Construction Online - New system protects rain skin cladding

Safety & Security

New system protects rain skin cladding

01 August 2002

A new product that is said to effectively and safely eliminate the danger posed by fire spreading from floor to floor behind an external rain skin cladding system has been launched on the market.

Called Venti-Flam, the product has been designed and tested by Wright Style, one of the UK's leading steel glazing systems specialists.

"External rain skin cladding is now a major aesthetic feature in many new or refurbished buildings. However, the risk of fire spreading behind the rain skin, either by fire passing through a window within the system, or by travelling undetected between the cladding cavity and the structure, has also long been recognised as being particularly dangerous," says Jane Embury of Wright Style.

"Until now, this risk has been managed by using mineral fibre slabs or pressed metal steel barriers, installed at regular intervals within the cladding cavity. Whilst this may prevent the spread of fire, it also prevents ventilation, pressure equalisation and drainage of the rain skin system, as well as adding to the overall cost of installation."

Venti-Flam, she says, offers a simple yet radical alternative, allowing for full ventilation throughout the cladding system - offering lower maintenance costs and a longer lifecycle for the overall system.

Instead of permanent non-ventilated barriers, the Venti-Flam system offers a range of aluminium profiles that are designed to line window and door apertures and to be fitted within the rain skin support grid. The profiles incorporate ventilation slots and high expansion seals, designed to react to the presence of fire and to create an immediate firebreak. This then isolates the fire and prevents it spreading from floor to floor, or from window to window opening, the company says.

The Venti-Flam cavity fire barrier system is available for differing cladding cavity sizes, from 30 mm (Venti-Flam VB30) to 40 and 50 mm (Venti-Flam V840), whilst window and door reveal depths up to 230 mm can be accommodated.

"Venti-Flam offers a complete rain skin fire barrier system, and can be modified to meet all cavity requirements," Embury says. "Further underlining its simplicity of installation, Venti-Flam requires no pre-treatment and can be cut and fixed on-site with the use of simple slide-in brackets. Being aluminium, Venti-Flam is both lightweight and simple to install and is extremely cost-effective in combination with high-performance cladding systems."

"Venti-Flam's simplicity is also its key strength," says Lee Coates of Wright Style. "The system effectively offers complete passive fire protection but, in the absence of fire, also allows for pressure equalisation and drainage. To sum up, it offers complete fire protection in the cladding cavity, is price competitive, available in a variety of sizes, requires no pre-treatment and is easy to install."