Building products are coming under increasing scrutiny to ensure our homes are safe, secure and comfortable. Aurora’s Director of UK Trade, Jeff Richardson, discusses Fire Rated Downlights and highlights the importance of testing.
When faced with a fire, people come first. Trying to get as many people out of their home safely is the priority. But in an ideal world, it would be good if as much of the building could be saved too, especially when considering rebuilding or refurbishing costs.
Therefore, re barriers need to be considered during a construction project to make a safe evacuation possible. These are placed in a house/ building to section it off into different ‘compartments’, so that when a re breaks out, the re is contained in the compartment in which it started, allowing time for safe evacuation. Fire barriers can include walls, oors and ceilings. In terms of ceilings, the overall building height has to be considered as this determines the level of protection required. The standard ratings are 30/60/90 minutes.
The Fire Rated Downlight is a life-saving luminaire speci cally designed with re barriers in mind. From the steel can that can withstand the extremely high temperatures experienced in a re, through to the intumescent material which expands when heated, sealing up any ventilation holes in the tting, the construction of re-rated luminaires prevents the re from spreading through a xture into the roof space across a re barrier.
Residential properties must have a minimum period of resistance, which depends on the height of the top oor and depths of any basement below ground level. For above ground installations, minimum re rating can range from 30 minutes to 120 minutes protection whilst below ground level applications will have either 60 or 90 minutes of protection. The National House Building Council (NHBC), the UK’s leading warranty and insurance provider for UK house-building for new homes, recently stated that steps should be taken to ensure that re rated downlights are now also compliant when used with engineering joists such as i-Joists, which are increasingly being used in new build homes.
Introducing Aurora’s A Series
Aurora has introduced the new A Series, a re rated downlight range that has been designed with the installer in mind and includes more bene ts, higher performance levels and a new appearance, offering additional reliability and enhanced product features. When selecting from the A Series and all of Aurora’s re rated products, you can be sure that all relevant re rated tests have been carried out and that the product is compliant with current building regulations.
i-Joist Compliant
Aurora and the Staircraft Group are the rst to have downlight ranges successfully assessed to demonstrate that the i-Joists and downlight combination will satisfy re safety Building Regulations for 30 mins re rating in domestic housing, an essential step in ensuring re safety guidelines in new builds.
Easy To Make Smart
Aurora’s AOneTM is the world’s widest range of smart lighting. Compatible with SmartThings, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant it can easily make the A Series smart! The AOne covers power, lighting and control, easy to install and extremely cost effective when compared with traditional smart lighting systems.
Available in more than 70 countries worldwide, Aurora’s trade solutions are the ‘smart’ choice for both electricians and wholesalers alike. Learn more:auroralighting.com
