FIRE RATINGS OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS FOR RECORD

ROOMS AND RECORD STORAGE FACILITIES

1 Scope

Scope of this document is to find and establish the minimum fire resistant and protection rating of
construction material required for construction of medium size record storage center.

2 References

The following governing regulations, standards and codes of practices will be followed along with
local practices, during design of firefighting systems for the project spaces and buildings. The most
recent approved edition will be applied. In case of contradiction in the standards, the one that
provides more safety and/or reliability measures will be followed.

Building Code of Pakistan – Fire Safety Provision, 2016 Edition

NFPA 01 Fire Code, 2021 Edition
NFPA 101 Life Safety Code, 2018 Edition
NFPA 220 Standard on Types of Building Construction, Edition 2021
NFPA 221 Standard for High Challenge Fire Walls and Fire Barrier Walls 2006
NFPA 232 Standard for the Protection of Records 2022
NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code®, 2018 Edition
LDA 2019 LDA Building Regulations 2019

3 Classification Criteria

Record type for proposed project is provided as Important Record. Facility is also classified as
Record Center (3.3.15, NFPA-232 2022). Record types are permitted to be stored in suitable
environment as per Table 3.1(NFPA-232 2022)

Record Type Vault Archive File Room Record Center

Vital X NP NP NP
Archival material X X NP NP
Important X X X X
Permanent X X X X
Active X X X X
Inactive X X X X
Unscheduled
X X X X
records
NP: Not permitted

Table 3.1 - Allowable Storage Environments

Important, permanent, and unscheduled records shall be maintained in a records vault, a file room, an
archive, or a records center. For proposes project record is suggested to be stored as an archive in a
Record center.

4 Construction Material Fire Ratings

Fire resistance ratings prescribed for archives shall be of the same duration as materials or assemblies
have been shown to withstand for a fire exposure that has been established in accordance with the test
procedures of ASTM E119/ UL 263. Fire-resistive construction shall be in accordance with NFPA
221.

Building elements and their properties in accordance with minimum required fire ratings as described
in Chapter 07 (NFPA-232, 2022) are illustrated below;

Walls
Construction Type Thickness Fire Rating
Brick Wall 160mm to 225mm 2 Hrs
Source: UP Code 720.1(2)

Columns
Construction Type Thickness Cover(minimum) Fire Rating
Normal Weight RCC 10 in 2 in 2 Hrs
Source: IBC 722.2.4

Beams
Construction Type Thickness Cover(minimum) Fire Rating
Normal Weight RCC >=10 in 1 in 2 Hrs
Source: IBC 722.2.3(2)

Roof
Construction Type Thickness Cover Fire Rating
Normal Weight RCC 4.5 in 1 in 2 Hrs
Source: IBC 722.2.1-3, ANSI/UL 263