View From Within: Skyscrapers on Fire

During one of the tours of the Federatsiya Tower held for the media by Mirax Group, its president, Sergei Polonsky, took the inquisitive journalists to auxiliary premises and uppermost floors of the building swept by winds. He sought to tell them the truth about his project. The curious journalists observed Moscow and the site of the landmark project City from the top of the capital's highest skyscraper, measuring 448 meters including the spire, while Polonsky fielded their tricky questions regarding the alleged cracks in the foundation, design solutions, security issues and even protection against terror attacks. Someone inquired whether the glazed walls of the skyscraper were fireproof. Polonsky said that the glass itself was not fireproof, but then nowhere in the world fireproof panes are used for construction of office towers.

The journalist’s interpretation of Polonsky said about the panes was not erroneous. Later Federatsiya engineers explained that in truth glazing units used by the builders are not fire-resistant. But if a blaze erupts the facades will be protected by sprinkler systems. As to the international practice, U.S. and European building regulations do not contain compulsory requirements as to refractoriness in office high-rises. Such units are too heavy, Mirax Group’s experts explain. According to the experts at the company Facilicom, the cost fireproof glass is higher than that of construction itself, but at the same time they provide no guarantee of safety. If the fire breaks out they will not break of course and even block the access of oxygen into the building. But it is virtually impossible to break them to rescue people as they are very strong. The price of 1sqm of fireproof glass produced by German manufacturer Robax is 10,500 rubles in Russia. The eastern tower Vostok, which is part of the Federatsiya is 93 stories high, western tower (Zapad) has 62 floors.

The developers of Federatsiya have adopted special safety procedures for the complex where sprinklers, water reservoirs between floorings and other safety systems installed on the premises are to serve as an alternative to fireproof windows.

However, as practice shows, the main problems in high-rise office buildings arise already after they are put into operation, and not before they are commissioned.

Nationwide Emergency

The issue is not about Federatsiaya itself. The question is how to use top end fire safety technologies correctly so as to ensure safety of the property and its tenants. Office towers across Russia have witnessed a number of disasters over the past years. On the top of the list is the Ostankino television tower that caught fire several times.

All office skyscrapers suffer from blazes. A blaze in an office center in Vladivostok in 2006 claimed lives of 10 employees of the local branch of Sberbank. Criminal charges were brought against the owner of the office building and fire safety experts, accused of negligence. When the fire erupted people could not escape as stairwells had been blocked with steel bards, emergencies officials reported. In the wake of the tragedy officials launched a crackdown on office towers across the country and toughened fire safety regulations. Emergency workers reported that for some reason fire escapes prove to be blocked, doors leading to emergency ladders are locked and many buildings are not equipped with fire warning systems. Fire safety officials in Irkutsk regularly raid office towers, acting on orders from the local mayor’s office. Most buildings lack fire warning systems, officials complain. Doors to escape routes must open inwards. Where doors open outwards people may panic and the crowd will push against the doors unable to open them. The mayor’s office has decided to fine offenders for such flaws in design.

The administration of Krasnoyarsk has set similar rules for builders and landlords. In 2006, three business centers were blacklisted. In Surgut, thorough checks into fire safety on office premises were launched. One of the local office towers – Office Center on 50-letiya VLKSM Street – was embroiled in the controversy.. The city’s fire safety inspectorate is set to ask the court to close down the building over fire safety violations. All fire escape routes are blocked, and windows are fitted with inflammable materials. Owners of the property have pledged to rectify all omissions but fire officials cannot wait.

Emergencies officials in Volgograd Region registered 6,000 fires in homes and offices in 2006. Evacuating people from high-rise buildings is especially difficult, emergency workers say. Fire evacuation ladders reach only to the 16th floor. In near future the Emergencies Ministry plans to purchase rescue equipment design especially for high-rise buildings.

Ensuring uninterrupted and safe operation of all engineering systems in a high-rise is the task for the property manager and maintenance services, holds Eduard Apsit, general director at Facilicom. “As regards safety procedures, for which building maintenance services are responsible, these include monitoring of all engineering systems, including fire safety devices and elements that interact with fire safety systems in case of fire,” he explains.

But fire safety is not the first questions prospective tenants pose to landlords when negotiating deals. Location, the size of rent, parking facilities - these are the priority matters for them. Even the criteria for office classification adopted by Moscow real estate consultants do not specify fire safety standards prime properties should meet, admits Irina Florova, head of research at CB Richard Ellis/Noble Gibbons. The classification contains only a general requirement stating that office buildings must be equipped with modern safety systems.

“Our experience shows that the decision to install safety systems or not depends not so on the class of the building, be it class A or B, as on the owners willingness or reluctance to allocated extra cash for evacuation and personal safety systems," says Eduard Apsit.

Demand creates supply. If safety systems were the key criteria for prospective tenants, developers would revise their market strategies. Moscow consultants say they are aware of only one corporate tenant for whom their employees' safety is the top priority - Citibank. The company revised its policies after a blaze in the bank's branch in South Africa that killed several people. In Moscow Citibank rents offices only on ground floors.

Fire exercise was held at the World Trade Center in Krasnaya Presnya for employees of all companies renting space there.But those examples are exceptions to the rule.

Basic Hardware

High-rise construction resumed in Moscow after a break of 30 years. The properties raised during the first wave of skyscraper development in the Russian capital are the office buildings on Novy Arbat, former COMECON headquarters now occupied by Moscow's mayor office, Belyi Dom (the seat of the federal government), and the complex of bank building on Sakharov Prospekt.

Building standards and regulations effective in Russia do not contain provisions governing fire safety in high-rises.

“Building companies specializing in high-rise constructions are few and far between,” says Igor Chernogolov, general director of Penetron, a manufacturer of construction materials. “There is but a handful of them in Moscow, needless to say what the situation is like in the province. Unfortunately, the legal framework for high-rise construction and building maintenance safety is only being formed.”

What makes matters worse is that Russia has no laws governing design and construction of high-rise properties as the federal law No. 184FZ of Dec. 27, 2002 has effectively invalidated all previously effective standards and building regulations. Offices of Gazprom, Unicombank and Sberbank were raised in the absence of any provisions regulating design of properties of such height, Tatiana Maklakova, professor at the Moscow State Construction University, writes in a survey focusing on high-rise construction.

In the meantime, such projects fall under the temporary provisions for design of mixed-use buildings and complexes adopted by the Moscow government. Specialists from 16 research institutes took part in drafting that document. Approved in late 2005, the document became the main set of guidelines for builders.

The so-called basic set of safety systems for high-rise buildings includes fire alarms, extinguishers, automatic fire-fighting systems, ventilation and anti-smoke systems, Eduard Apsit has reported. Fire warning systems can also be installed.

There are not many types of fire alarm systems but their mode of operation is more or less the same – they respond to smoke or to increased air temperatures. The choice of a system depends on the property where it is to be installed. Units used as storages for files or goods are equipped with gas or acid extinguishing systems.Rooms where people work use foam producing, powder or water extinguishers. Most office towers use water extinguishers.

The cost of fire-fighting equipment depends both on manufacturer and on specifics of installation and maintenance, Eduard Apsit says.

Other fire safety devices include video surveillance systems, security alarms, etc.

Evacuation Questioned

A disadvantage of all high-rise buildings is that some fire-fighting and evacuation techniques are not applicable there, holds Apsit. In an emergency situation everything depends on what a person has at hand. Safety systems include fire escapes (but it ruins the appearance of the building), fire ladders (the use of which is restricted in high-rises), rope access equipment (but will employees manage to use it?), fire hoses and evacuation lifts (again, the question is whether the building has such).

Fire Safety Basics

High-rises fall into the category of the most complicated construction. That is why international forums are often convened, for example buy engineers and architects associations IABCE-ASCE and CIP, to adopt recommendations for designers and builders of high-rises.

High-rise constructions have their specifics in terms of shape, proportion, structure and elements, Maklakova writes in her survey.

To prevent natural damage to the buildings Moscow builders are advised to use expensive technologies when laying foundation of the buildings.

Those measures, as well as high end engineering systems push up project costs. The multistoried project by Lotte on Novy Arbat is worth $140 million, Enka’s Northern Tower in City is estimated at $120 million while Bashnya na Naberezhnoi (Tower on Embankment) - $150 million. The projected cost of Federatsiya exceeds $500 million.