Fire testing delivers cost-effective, versatile solutions

Continuous investment in fire testing enables Metsec’s Dry Lining division to provide customers with a wide range of cost-effective solutions. Gary Dixon (National Technical Sales Manager) highlights the benefits:

Fire safety has always been a key consideration in the construction of new buildings.

Recent tragic events have, quite rightly, brought this critical area to the fore, with even greater emphasis being placed on the specification and installation of building materials and systems which meet the relevant performance standards.

Internal partition walls play a vital role in assuring the safety of occupants in the case of fire by providing compartmentation of areas to keep fire and smoke at bay for sufficient time to allow safe escape from the building.

Specifiers and contractors need to ensure that the combination of stud, track and board used to construct these non-loadbearing internal partitions comply with Building Regulations and perform to the recognised standards.

At Metsec, we invest a great deal of time and resources into ensuring that our metal partitioning systems enable walls to meet all relevant building regulations and performance standards. They are independently tested at UKAS-accredited laboratories in combination with the latest boards from the industry’s leading manufacturers.

Where fire testing is concerned, each system’s integrity and insulation performance is tested, or an assessment extrapolated from a tested configuration, by UKAS-accredited laboratories against BS 476: Part 22:1987. Each system, comprising Metsec Dry Lining components with proprietary board is tested and its fire performance certified between 30 and 120 minutes. The testing is also carried out with known componentry, such as screws and mastic, to create a defined system solution. Metsec also boasts a number of fire tested deflection head details within its dry lining range for 60 and 120 minutes.

The systems covered include standard partitions, twin frame party walls, resilient bar walls, MF, shaftwall and column and beam encasement systems, giving the specifier total confidence when including Metsec dry lining solutions in project specifications. Specifications can be produced from technical manuals in conjunction with our distribution partners or by using our Revit add-in app specifier tool. Metsec was the first manufacturer in the UK to gain BSI Kitemark for BIM, and our BIM software is accredited to BIM level 2.

This investment requires a dedicated approach in product development and monitoring market trends to ensure that we are ahead of the game, constantly testing systems to accommodate new boards and changes to product specifications. It underlines our commitment to providing the market with freedom of choice, flexibility and economy.