The FIA and the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) are seeking support from the fire safety community to help improve access to BS 8414 test data that is not currently in the public domain.

It has come to our attention that a number of BS 8414 fire tests have been carried out on various external wall construction systems, but that the results of these tests have not been published. In many cases, these tests were commissioned in response to specific issues identified in real buildings, such as missing or poorly installed cavity barriers - to assess whether those shortcomings present a risk of external fire spread.

The outcomes of such tests would be of significant value to the wider fire engineering community. Fire engineers regularly assess the fire risk of external wall systems on buildings that may exhibit similar construction features or defects. Access to a broader range of test data would support more informed, evidence-based decision-making.

Importantly, test reports would be informative regardless of whether the system tested achieved a successful outcome. At present, however, unpublished reports are known only to a limited number of individuals, and even those with knowledge of the tests may be unable to reference them when working on other projects.

The FIA and IFE would be willing to provide a platform for the publication of these test reports, most likely via a publicly accessible website, subject to permission from the organisations that commissioned the tests. Reports can be anonymised, with references to specific buildings or organisations removed. As the primary purpose of publication is to inform understanding of the fire performance of different wall constructions, identifying individual projects or companies would not be necessary.

We are therefore inviting anyone who is aware of relevant BS 8414 fire test reports that may be suitable for publication to get in touch. All contacts will be treated in confidence, and no test report will be published without the explicit consent of the organisation that commissioned the test.

If you can assist, please contact us at [email protected].

The FIA and IFE would like to thank the fire safety community in advance for its support in helping to share knowledge and improve understanding of external wall fire performance.