Research & Development

Fire Design Solutions is committed to continuing research and development in order to advance new concepts, products and services. This committment consistently provides exceptional value to our clients providing innovative solutions to challenging technical problems.

Some research and development projects are carried out internally, applying the specialist skills and services of our fire engineering consultancy, FDS Consult, to develop fire safety solutions. Other research initiatives call for the involvement of external experts and sources. We have taken part in collaborative research with industry partners, public bodies and universities including NHBC, BRE, London Fire Brigade, Leeds University and various building control authorities.

Over the course of several years, we have used the benefit of our knowledge and experience coupled with our continuing research and development activity to develop concepts such as our fan assisted smoke ventilation system, fire safety solutions for open plan living and environmental climate control. Our research and development initiatives have included studies on the objectives of smoke venting for means of escape and fire fighting, specialist fire suppression, discussions with experts in the field of fire and smoke modelling, CFD (Computational Fluids Dynamics) modelling, scale model and full scale fire testing.

Research and development has a significant positive impact on the value and operation of our design, systems and products. Continuing investment means that we are better placed to serve our clients, deliver added value to our projects and provide fire safety solutions of a higher standard.

Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!

FAS System Video

The Video shows a demonstration of the operation of the bespoke FAS
system developed by Fire Design solutions and was a approved by
Building Control and the London Fire Brigade.

A smoke machine is used to smoke log the common corridor. Then once the
smoke detector (one can be seen in the ceiling of corridor shown)
detects the smoke, it sends a signal to the control panel, which begins
the operation of the FAS.

The AOV (to the smoke shaft) in the fire floor is opened as well as the
AOVs at the head of the staircase and at the head of the shaft. The fan
then starts running in means of escape mode.

As it can be seen, the air that flows down the stairs and the
depressurization of the common corridor 'forces the door open' so that
the air can flow into the affected corridor, induce the smoke that then
flows up the smoke shaft to outside.

The sheer effectiveness of the system is shown as the corridor is clear
of smoke within 30 seconds.

In addition to the above, the FAS can also operate to aid fire fighting,
where the system will ramp up to ensure smoke will not flow into a
staircase even when the door of the fire apartment is kept open.