Description

Significant high-rise fire events globally have increased our understanding of how fire spreads externally and within modern facade construction.

In 2019 MBIE reviewed the existing methods used to demonstrate compliance of external wall cladding systems with building regulations' fire safety objectives. Guidance was provided on how New Zealand Building Code (NZBC) requirements should be interpreted and whether international alternative fire tests and evaluation methods are suitable for use here.

Based on the feedback received on the 2019 guidance and subsequent engagement with the industry stakeholders, MBIE has released this revision of guidance on fire performance of external wall cladding systems.

Scope

This guidance is intended to:

• make it clear what constitutes an external wall cladding system for testing external vertical fire spread and assessing performance against the New Zealand Building Code requirements
• describe the suite of fire testing protocols that could be applied to demonstrate compliance with the Building Code
• scope the parameters that need to be considered when addressing external vertical fire spread.

The guidance does not intend to provide a fire-engineered design solution for individual construction details but covers broad principles requiring consideration in their development.