With vacancies increasing and rental rates continuing to slide, distressed landlords are looking at ways to make up for dwindling revenues. The first casualty in this case is building maintenance, and compromises related to fire safety have become an issue of prime concern in this area.
"Most landlords consider fire safety measures as a cost rather than an investment," says Leslie Alladarice, operations manager, Better Homes Property Management.
"Out of date or dysfunctional fire systems are expensive to replace or repair. If the landlord refuses to fix the system, we choose not to manage the property," says Alladarice.
As a rule of thumb, all residential buildings must have a Civil Defence approved fire and safety system. Industry experts state that it is crucial that landlords adhere to Civil Defence recommendations, upgrade old fire systems and conduct periodic fire inspections and audits of their properties.
Fire safety inspection and audit
"It is essential that a fire safety audit is done for a property. It is also important that the existing fire systems are maintained well, and above all landlords and residents need to generate good housekeeping facilities for a building or premises which could help in the prevention of fires," explains Craig Nixon, business development manager, Tyco Fire & Security UAE, a leading fire protection and detection company in the region.
"Fire accidents are generally caused due to negligence. The main problem we face in a building is the maintenance. If the fire systems are maintained as originally designed to operate, a lot of these fires could be [detected] or extinguished in the early stages," says Nixon. Experts also point out several deficiencies involving fire safety such as electrical faults, storage and use of hazardous material, blocked escape routes and locked fire escapes. Alladarice of Better Homes feels that amendments to property could compromise fire safety norms in residential buildings. "Installations that are not approved by the municipality, congested storage areas, blocked fire escapes or escape routes, fire hazardous materials used for installations, chimneys used in restaurants that are not properly constructed, installed or maintained, can lead to residential fires. "While this being the overall situation, mainstream companies in the UAE have realised that fire safety is indeed an investment. "Things are changing now, when you look at some of the bigger developers who consider fire safety definitely as an investment," confirms Nixon.
The fire safety inspection drive initiated by Abu Dhabi Commercial Properties (ADCP) is a notable instance in this case. The capital's largest real estate management company launched a campaign to study the fire prevention strategy for 2,500 of its buildings. "The objective of the project is to identify and remedy any deficiencies in fire safety systems," states the property management firm. ADCP has hired US-based consultant Schirmer Engineering Corporation to conduct an audit on the levels of fire safety in all of its buildings.
However, industry experts feel the issue of fire safety in a building could be a joint effort by both parties — the landlord and the tenant, with residents adhering to certain obligations and maintaining a certain code of discipline as well.
An analysis earlier this year by business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan shows the fire safety market in the Middle East will reach $1,125 million in 2013 from $635 million in 2008. As trends point to gravitating away from conventional systems to intelligent addressable systems and with the authorities taking the initiative to raise the standards of fire safety in the UAE, Nixon concurs that some of the regulations in the country are good and in line with Western Europe and North America. "It is the implementation of these regulations that still has room for improvement," he suggests.
Sustainability of fire systems
Furthermore, as sustainability becomes an integral part of building design and the construction process, experts feel that fire protection systems also have an important role to play. Joanne Haggerty, associate director of Waterman Emirates, an environmental and fire protection consultancy firm, believes an early integrated collaborative design process is imperative to obtain the full benefit from synergies that come about as a result of a sustainable project approach.
"Safety, reliability and robustness are always first priority when considering fire safety systems. However, there are ways that these can be designed to meet the sustainability criteria without compromising their primary function," she explains.
Citing an example of a sustainable fire safety design in buildings, Haggerty says, "A fire engineer may propose that water used to extinguish fires can be drained into a rainwater/greywater harvesting tank, but he has to ensure that the plumbing engineer sizes the tank to accommodate the additional water supply. This is cheaper than having two tanks, it could avoid wastage of water by draining to the sewer and one could also avoid buying potable water for a non-potable water need, so the benefits realised are three-fold."
With the sustainability trend catching up, Nixon says that there are some initiatives in the UAE which are matched with products that could help to meet the criteria. Tyco Fire and Security have been at the forefront of promoting sustainable technologies with their Inergen, Sapphire Clean Agent Systems and Microdrop Watermist systems. As water is a precious resource in the UAE, adapting to new fire safety technologies when it comes to saving it, could be an advantage. "Large traditional type of sprinkler systems usually have a large water demand, where as new technologies such as Water Mist Systems could dramatically reduce the amount of water in terms of fire fighting and could also avoid issues such as water run off and damage to property due to excess water," adds Nixon.
Flammability testing
Additionally, recent advancement in fire safety standards, technology and systems is increasingly becoming a priority for new building owners. Stressing the importance of fire testing, Thomas Bell-Wright International Consultants, a US-based company accredited to North American standards has recently set up the region's first fire testing laboratory in the UAE.
"With fire doors and other products being sourced from all over the world, authorities often don't know whether they actually meet the requirements or not" says Tom Bell-Wright, CEO and laboratory founder for Thomas Bell-Wright International Consultants.
The firm states that the testing process could help the authorities to verify the assemblies used in buildings or industrial locations where fire can be contained or excluded to meet the specified fire separation time criteria. This would offer residents enough time to vacate the building, while allowing firefighters the required time to reach the scene, thereby minimising losses in the event of a fire. The laboratory has also received an ISO 17025 (the laboratory equivalent to ISO 9001) certification by Dubai Municipality.
Going forward, with the authorities taking stringent measures to safeguard life and property; enforcement of fire regulations is spiking demand for fire detection systems in the UAE, irrespective of whether landlords consider it as a cost or investment. "Today it is mandatory for landlords to install direct alarm systems that are linked to the Fire Department, in both new and old properties," says Alladarice.
Fire Code
Abu Dhabi's International Fire Code requires all buildings to have clearly indicated fire exits, smoke detectors, water sprinklers and alarm systems. It also emphasises periodic inspections and regular maintenance of systems.
