BCA 2010 - ABCB - Australian Building Codes Board

INTERNATIONAL Regulatory Development
FIRE PROTECTION ISSUES
FOR MULTI-STOREY BUILDINGS
IN CHINA
Written by Tong Xiaochao, China Academy of Building Research Certification Center
One of the outcomes of the rapid rise
of China as a world economic power
has been the exponential increase
of urbanisation and development of
multi-storey buildings, especially within
the larger cities such as Beijing and
Shanghai.
While these buildings are a necessary
component of the rapid expansion of
these cities, their development has
highlighted key essential safety issues
such as fire protection.
On the night of February 9th, 2009 at
around 20:30 hours, during the holding
of the Chinese traditional lantern
festival, the Television Cultural Center
(TVCC) tower was ignited by fireworks.
The TVCC tower is an important part
of China Central Television (CCTV) and
is adjacent to the iconic headquarters
of CCTV. The TVCC tower is 159 metres
high and the building area is 103,000
square metres. The TVCC tower is
actually a composite of three structures;
a luxury hotel, a television studio, and an
electronic data processing centre.
Although the fire-brigade came in
time, it took around 6 hours to put
out the fire. The problem was that the
high pressure water could not reach
100 metre flame. After investigation
it was announced that the damaged
area of the building was 100,000
square metres, and the electronic data
processing centre was totally destroyed.
The weather at that time was dry and
the wind speed was 0.9 metre/second
on average. Theoretically the wind
influence was not of great significance,
although it was not easy to estimate the
actual wind speed at the top of TVCC
tower. Factors impacting on the event
included the fact that the building
was not yet completed at the time and
that the sprinkler system had yet to be
installed.
This case proves again that fire
protection is a very important issue for
skyscrapers, and some of the aspects to
consider include:
1. Thermal insulation
material
In the last few years building energy
conservation has been a key issue in
China. In North China the application
of building exterior wall insulation
technology was introduced mostly
because of the climate character. In
summer it is very hot, and in winter it is
very cold and windy.
The advantages of building exterior wall
insulation technology include:
• Large volume of heat storage
capacity of the solid wall
• Increased occupant comfort levels
• Protection for the main building
structure
• Increase in interior room space
In China the curtain wall is the main
medium and high grade decoration for
buildings. It can be divided into three
types:
• Glass curtain wall
• Aluminium plank curtain wall
• Stone curtain wall
Unfortunately these curtains cannot
be used separately without additional
thermal insulation material because
the individual heat transfer coefficient
of the curtain wall is quite high. In
order to meet the energy conservation
requirements thermal insulation
materials are adopted behind the
curtain wall.
34 • Australian Building Regulation Bulletin