Old high-rise buildings

Fire safety in old high-rise buildings of Hong Kong

Brief:

High-rise buildings constructed before 1972 in Hong Kong are classified as old high-rise buidlings. The exisitng fire safety codes were reviewed [1,2]. Many of them do not upgrade the fire safety measures to the current fire safety standards and therefore associate with fire safety concerns. Part of the concerns are related to fire smoke spread through unprotected lift shafts. Some have proposed residential sprinklers to improve the fire safety. Issues of the residential sprinklers were discussed [3,4].

Another concerns are related to evacuation. Aged fire alarm bell and resident response to an fire alarm cue were also studied.

We have conducted a number of surveys and have proposed fire safety rankings for fire safety improvement purposes [5,6]. A fire safety evaluation system is essential for building engineers to quantify the fire safety level, to identify the measures to be improved and to schedule the corresponding improvements. A fire safety evaluation (FSE) checklist for fire safety level quantification and improvements prioritization in example old high-rise buildings of Hong Kong [7].

Figure 1 Scores of 122 old high-rise buildings in Hong Kong using the FSE checklist (Source: Fire Technology 2007:43(3)233-249.

References:

[1] Wong LT, Chow WK, 1997. Fire safety code for buildings, Proceedings of Mainland-Hong Kong Engineering and Construction Standards Exchange Seminar ’97, Beijing, China, April 14-15, China Association for Engineering Construction Standard and Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Vol. 1: Hong Kong, pp. 11.1 - 11.7.

[2] Wong LT, 1998. Fire safety codes for building design, Proceedings of The 3rd CAST Conference of Young Scientists, Sciences of Resources & Environment and Technologies for Sustainable Development. China Association for Science & Technology (CAST), Beijing, China, August 20-22 pp. 372-375. (In Chinese)

[3] Chow WK, Chong HW, Wong LT, 1999. Problems of the retrofit installation of sprinkler systems in old high-rise buildings: a case study, Facilities 17(3/4) 112-119.

[4] Chow WK, Wong LT, Kwan ECY, 1999. A proposed fire safety ranking system for old highrise buildings in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Fire and Materials 23(1) 27-31.

[5] Wong LT, Chong HW, Chow WK, 2002. Sprinkler systems: code review in high-rise buildings use, Facilities 20(11/12) 374-385.

[6] Wong LT, Lum TS, Fong NK, 2002. A proposed fire safety ranking system for residential buildings in Hong Kong, Presented in the National Engineering Week 2002 (Excellent Engineering in the Future), Thailand, 20-23 June 2002, pp. 34-38.

[7] Wong LT, Lau SW, 2007. A fire safety evaluation system for prioritizing fire improvements in old high-rise buildings in Hong Kong, Fire Technology 43(3) 233-249.