Woodspan PLT Flooring Ensures Trusted Fire Performance Background Techlam recently acquired the Woodspan brand and IP and have also stablished a strategic partnership with Taranakipine. A key consideration in this acquisition was the robustness of the approach Woodspan had used to demonstrate the performance of the PLT Flooring panel. For instance, Woodspan’s fire performance claims have been substantiated through testing that is directly applicable to the NZ context. Documentation is simple and clear, making it simpler to specify and install. What the law requires The Building Act via the Building Code, considers fire performance from three critical perspectives: Occupant safety: Ensuring sufficient time for occupants to safely evacuate the building during a fire. Property protection: Limiting fire spread to protect adjacent properties. Firefighter safety: Providing a safe environment for firefighters to perform their duties, including putting out fires and stabilising the structure. Repairing fire-damaged buildings is important to owners and insurers, but it is not a legislated consideration within the Building Code’s fire performance requirements. Fire protection strategies in construction Fire protection is achieved through a combination of strategies: Design integration: Incorporating fire-resistant features during the design and construction phases to minimise fire-related risk. Active measures: Mechanical intervention systems (e.g. sprinklers) or human actions to suppress or control fire. Passive measures: Using building products and construction techniques that inherently reduce fire damage or risk without active intervention. The best and most effective fire protection integrates all three approaches. Fire performance of Woodspan PLT flooring Woodspan PLT flooring is a mass timber structural element and as such has fire obligations under the NZ Building Code. Through good design and the use of passive fire attributes, Woodspan PLT flooring will contribute to compliance with the NZ Building Code and will contribute to the mitigation of damage. Fire resistance rating In 2020 Woodspan undertook a programme of fire testing. These were carried out to demonstrate the fire resistance rating (FRR) of the panels and of the penetrations which utilised RyanFire products. Testing was carried out by two NZ-based laboratories both of which are IANZ accredited to AS 1530.4-2014. Passive Fire Inspection & Test Services Ltd (PFITS) tested the FRR rating of the panels. The test assembly incorporated 117mm WS8 panels with joints with/without plywood splice. As part of the joint assembly the RyanFire intumescent strap was installed. The results demonstrated that PLT floor panels can achieve an FRR 60/60/60 minutes (structural adequacy/integrity/insulation). Additionally, an FRR of 30/30/30 can be achieved with correct detailing. In both cases no additional linings or treatments are required. Fire TS LAB tested various penetration assemblies using 90mm WS8 PLT panels with Ryanfire passive fire products (e.g. collars). Performance data for these tests can be found here. Spread of flame performance In addition to FRR, exposed ceilings and flooring must meet specific spread of flame characteristics. These characteristics have not been subject to independent testing as it was not necessary. Depending on the use of the space and the presence/absence of sprinkler systems, the building code prescribes a Material Group Number for ceilings. Woodspan PLT achieves a material group of 3, which is only relevant when the panels are left exposed from below. Again, depending on the use of the space and the presence/absence of sprinkler systems the building code prescribes a minimum Critical Radiant Flux (CRF) for the floor surface materials. The range is 1.2 – 4.5 kW/m². Again, this only applies to Woodspan PLT flooring where it is left exposed. Timber exceeding 12mm thickness achieves a CRF of 2.2 kW/m². This article has been originally published on EBOSS.
