A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Retrofitting and Maintaining Existing South African Government Buildings for Improving Safety from Fire: A Comprehensive Review of Literature
Fire is wrecking Government and other buildings in South Africa at a cost of hundreds of millions to billions of Rand plus an incalculable loss of human and other life. The factors that compromise the safety of South African government buildings to fire inarguably emanate from poor maintenance of the building stock that also comprises many old buildings with resultantly obsolete building services. This trend prompted this study to investigate how to utilize technological innovation in retrofitting and maintaining the existing South African government buildings in order to improve their safety from fire. Harnessing technology into government buildings will help avoid fire outbreaks, reduce the spread of fire and minimize the response period in the case of an outbreak. The purpose of this paper was to document a critical review of scholarly sources in order to understand the different, carefully selected, latest technologies that can be incorporated into the building fabric and around the government premises to improve reactive and proactive firefighting capacity. The internet of things, automatic robots, automatic sprinklers, water mist suppression systems, artificial intelligence, building information modelling, drones, smart cameras and smart fire alarms were identified and interrogated to understand how they can improve buildings’ fire fighting capacity as well as understand their strengths and weaknesses. The technologies were recommended for South African Government buildings. The study will potentially benefit the Government of South Africa by recommending how to retrofit and maintain the existing stock of government buildings in a bid to improve their resistance to, and reduce damage from, fire outbreaks. Ultimately, the result will be safer public workplaces and a huge saving from the ongoing loss through fire wreckage of government buildings.
Retrofitting and Maintaining Existing South African Government Buildings for Improving Safety from Fire: A Comprehensive Review of Literature
Fire is wrecking Government and other buildings in South Africa at a cost of hundreds of millions to billions of Rand plus an incalculable loss of human and other life. The factors that compromise the safety of South African government buildings to fire inarguably emanate from poor maintenance of the building stock that also comprises many old buildings with resultantly obsolete building services. This trend prompted this study to investigate how to utilize technological innovation in retrofitting and maintaining the existing South African government buildings in order to improve their safety from fire. Harnessing technology into government buildings will help avoid fire outbreaks, reduce the spread of fire and minimize the response period in the case of an outbreak. The purpose of this paper was to document a critical review of scholarly sources in order to understand the different, carefully selected, latest technologies that can be incorporated into the building fabric and around the government premises to improve reactive and proactive firefighting capacity. The internet of things, automatic robots, automatic sprinklers, water mist suppression systems, artificial intelligence, building information modelling, drones, smart cameras and smart fire alarms were identified and interrogated to understand how they can improve buildings’ fire fighting capacity as well as understand their strengths and weaknesses. The technologies were recommended for South African Government buildings. The study will potentially benefit the Government of South Africa by recommending how to retrofit and maintain the existing stock of government buildings in a bid to improve their resistance to, and reduce damage from, fire outbreaks. Ultimately, the result will be safer public workplaces and a huge saving from the ongoing loss through fire wreckage of government buildings.
Retrofitting and Maintaining Existing South African Government Buildings for Improving Safety from Fire: A Comprehensive Review of Literature
Aigbavboa, Clinton (editor) / Thwala, Wellington (editor) / Aghimien, Douglas (editor) / Magaisa, Evans (author) / Michell, Kathy (author) / Moghayedi, Alireza (author)
Construction Industry Development Board Postgraduate Research Conference ; 2022 ; Eastern Cape, South Africa
2023-04-24
10 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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