PASSIVE FIRE PROTECTION

OFFICIAL REGULATIONS

The regulatory texts classify buildings on the basis of the risks inherent to each building type (height, occupancy, activities etc.) and indicate the requirements that must be met for fire safety.
The regulatory texts are the only applicable reference documents and must be consulted in total.

BUILDINGS ARE CLASSIFIED INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

  • Establishments open to the public
  • High-rise buildings
  • Residential buildings:
    Facilities classified for environmental protection
  • Workplaces and Labour code

BUILDING CLASSIFICATION :

CAN BE DIFFERENT FROM COUNTRY to COUNTRY

ESTABLISHMENTS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (ERP)

ERPs are classified in five categories and types. The building type depends on the use type. The categories are determined based on public and staff occupancies.

  1. over 1500 people
  2. between 701 and 1500 people
  3. between 301 and 700 people
  4. 300 people or less, excluding establishments in category 5
  5. establishments mentioned in Article R 123-14 in which the public occupancy rate does not exceed the number specified by the safety regulations for each type of business.

The following classifications only apply to establishments in categories 1 to 4.

HIGH-RISE AND VERY-HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS (IGHs AND ITGHs)

An IGH is a building over 50m tall for residential buildings or over 28m tall for other types of buildings.

An ITGH is a building over 200m tall.

Decree of 18 January 2012 (which supersedes that of 18 October 1977) includes general measures applicable to all classes of IGHs and special provisions applicable to the different classes of buildings.

The different classes are defined as follows:

  1. GHA : buildings for residential use
  2. GHO : buildings for hotel use
  3. GHR : buildings for educational use
  4. GHS :buildings to be used as archival storage
  5. GHU : buildings for sanitary use
  6. GHW1 : buildings for office use: 28 m PBDN*  50 m
  7. GHW2 : buildings for office use: PBDN* > 50 m
  8. GHZ : buildings for mixed use or including an ERP

*PBDN : last-level floor slab

IGH
Download the document