High-rises bump up building fire codes, costs and increase risks

Kingsland Nixon,
Cayman Islands Fire
Services Chief.

Fire Services will be spending more on equipment
with high-rise buildings.

Friday,  June 24, 2005

Plans for taller buildings across the Cayman Islands are set to change more than just the landscape of the country.

Changes in the prescriptions for equipment on hand at the Fire Services as well as a greater investment on the part of building owners in fire prevention equipment and adhering to worldwide up-to-date building safety features have all presented a new menu of additional costs.

“Buildings at the new heights allowed are termed high-rise buildings,” Kingsland Nixon, Cayman Islands Fire Services Chief explained.

“Accommodating these will mean, for one thing, that we need to have taller ladders. Ladders must now be able to go up to one hundred feet. We have one of these already in hand, with two more on order.

“However, if there is high wind we will not necessarily be able to get the ladder up to where it needs to be. I give this example to explain that the additional costs surrounding fire hazard safety issues with taller buildings will not be a burden borne only by the Fire Services.

In fact, the new building code requirements under the recently amended Planning Law place a lot of the onus on the owners of buildings to meet fire prevention provisions.”

Mr Nixon added that a new fleet of vehicles were on order and that these would form part of the Fire Services equipping itself for the road ahead.

There has been a considerable debate about taller buildings, in particular in the wake of the development of the Ritz-Carlto Grand Cayman.

Since then, however, as taller buildings appear to be inevitable there is greater acceptance and now a need for readiness. Other indicators that the Island is preparing to make room for buildings that are above five stories high can be found within the Islands’ laws.

Chief Building Control Officer, Frederick McLeary explained:

“The Planning Law was recently amended so that buildings for up to ninety-one feet high may be approved. Prior to this, the highest a building could be in the Cayman Islands was fifty-five feet or five stories high.

“With this change in the Planning Law there was the need to also amend building codes. These changes now demand that buildings are required to have a central sprinkler system, for example. Another example is that stairs must be pressurised so that no smoke remains in that area.

“As well, there are other demands such as the use of non-combustible materials for making roofing trusses. No longer can trusses be made from wood.

“There are many other new requirements including those for exiting the building. As well, under normal circumstances wheelchair users would use elevators. However, provisions for emergency exit of these persons must be made as well and as such the physically challenged must have an area of refuge in staircases.”

Mr McLeary said that many of these requirements would not be seen as additional or peculiar to building here.

“New building owners here, especially those with offices in parts of the United States or Europe, would be familiar with the need for all these requirements,” he added.

However Mr McLeary identified one area that would be seen as an additional expense.

“The water supply here does not have the capacity to support the sprinkler system needs throughout entire buildings. Therefore companies will have to build their own water systems that can accommodate a fire pump. This is the biggest challenge,” Mr McLeary said.

Throughout the world building code proposals are sparking debate among builders, manufacturers and insurers for reasons ranging from whether property and lives are best protected by sprinkler systems and fire-resistant building materials and other passive methods of control, to the fundamental factor of cost.

Doorly McLaughlin, Cayman Islands Fire Prevention Officer, underscored the cost responsibilities to be faced by the builders in all of this.

“Fire fighting capabilities must be incorporated into buildings,” he said. “For example, whatever the types of businesses housed in these buildings, they all will need to have someone full-time to deal with this area such as a fire safety officer who will be required to have a certain degree of training in this area.”

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