MCD Fire Engineering’s Managing Director, Mark McDaid, highlights that:

“In my 20+ years as a Fire Safety Engineer, at least 80% of defects I find on buildings new and old are related to missing, incomplete or non-compliant fire stopping systems and this is in areas that are predominantly hidden, with the consequences of those defects being potentially catastrophic. 

Having worked in new buildings and old buildings for over 20 years and having also been involved in Expert Witness litigation proceedings, we estimate that for every 1 Euro (€) that could have been spent doing the firestopping right the first-time round, it will cost approx. €10 (yes, 10 x times) that to fix post completion/occupation of the building. 

We strongly recommend that builders use licenced/accredited passive firestopping installers with competency in this area. It is money well spent and we often find that once this significant item is taken care of by professional, licenced/accredited installers, most inspections, commissioning, testing and pre-occupation investigations go a lot more smoothly.”