Basic Safety Analysis of Buildings from an Architectural ... · The National Building Code of India...

Basic Safety Analysis of Buildings from an Architectural Perspective

Based on NBC 2016 Standards

Department of Architecture and PlanningIndian Institute of Technology Roorkee

What do we mean by Building System Analysis?

• A process that measures how a building's performance compares to the specified design.

• Building Analysis is a general name given to the techniques applied by architects to assess the functioning of a building both pre and post occupancy.

Types:

• Pre Occupancy Analysis

• Pre Construction Site Survey

• Site Logistics Survey

• Ongoing Construction Safety and Quality Check

• Building Level Construction External - Visual Survey

• Building Services – Visual Survey

• Finishing and Interiors – Visual Survey

• Post Occupancy Analysis

• Facility Management Survey

• Retrofitting Requirement Analysis

• Energy Usage Analysis1 of 45

Components of building resilience

Robustness: the ability to maintain critical operations and functions in the face of crisis.

Resourcefulness: the ability to skilfully prepare for, respond to, and manage a crisis or disruption as it unfolds.

Rapid recovery: the ability to return to and/or reconstitute normal operations as quickly and efficiently as possible after a disruption.

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The National Building Code of India - 2016

• A comprehensive building code providing guidelines for regulating the building

construction activities across the country.

• Published by the Bureau of Indian Standards as SP 7: 2016

• A Model Code for adoption by all agencies involved in building construction

works be they Public Works Departments, other government construction

departments, local bodies or private construction agencies.

• The code mainly contains:

• Administrative Regulations

• Development Control Rules

• General Building Requirements

• Fire Safety Requirements

• Stipulations regarding Materials Usage

• Structural Design & Construction Specifications

• Building Services

• Approach to Sustainability

• Asset and Facility management

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Pre Occupancy Analysis

Pre Construction Site Survey

• The general topographical condition of the

site is documented and analysed. The points

to be considered during this survey are:

• Natural Orientation of site and effect of natural

features like trees, water bodies, slopes, mounds

etc.

• Distance from existing Municipal infrastructure and

major waterbodies like rivers, lakes or ponds

• Ground water level and condition of Soil

• Boundary conditions to the existing site (Natural or

Man-made)

• Useable slope and areas to be modified for using

cutting and filling.

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Site Logistics Survey

• The workings of the site in question during

the period of construction is planned, so as

to avoid problems when the construction is

in progress, the points to remember are:

• Location and placement of bulk materials, steel,

formwork equipment and batching plant.

• Placement of finishing materials like wood, tiles etc.

• Accessibility of Transit Mixers.

• Placement of the Tower Cranes and the radius of

safety around them.

• Proper placement, hygiene and facilities like

drinking water for the workforce accommodation,

including a site hospital or first aid facility.

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Ongoing Construction Safety and Quality Check

• The safety of the construction workforce and

their operation areas is very important to

ensure good quality construction. Some of the

thigs to be kept in mind are:

• The mandatory provision and proper usage of

personal construction safety equipment.

• The proper checking of supporting infrastructure

like scaffolding, MLCP/RLCP, cranes, concrete

pumps etc.

• Regular mock Fire drills education and awareness

of workforce towards personal safety and its

importance.

• Periodic documentation of construction quality by

authorised personal.

• Random visits by site safety officers to help ensure

an accident free quality construction zone.

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Building Construction Survey - External

• Construction work, although constantly

supervised by engineers, requires teams

of quality officers to assess and

maintain the quality of construction,

following a certain number of steps like:

• Development of a mock case before

execution.

• Visual survey of the construction stage-wise,

to identify and correct defects arising during

construction.

• Proper documentation of each construction

stage and material used to gauge wastage

and further requirements.


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Building Services

• Building services include the

mechanical, electrical and plumbing

services combined together for the

proper functioning of a building:

• Mechanical Services: These include the proper

functioning of the elevator systems, HVAC etc.

• Electrical Services: These include the setup of

electrical rooms and power supply to the

building and also to the individual areas within

the building that require electricity.

• Plumbing Services: These include the setup of

various fire fighting related services,

establishment of STP, WTP and also common

water related plumbing works in a building.


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Finishing and Interior Survey

• The interior aspects of a building require

special attention before and after

construction, some of which are listed

below:

• Proper laying and sloping of flooring surfaces.

• Proper water proofing and damp proofing of

the roof and around areas that are prone to

get and stay wet.

• Proper design and material choices to help

avoid accidents like Anti Slip tiles, Fire Rated

Doors, raised entry to electrical rooms etc.


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Facility Management Survey

• The proper management of a facility

post occupancy is probably the most

ignored task in a building’s life. Below

are some points to keep in mind while

doing this survey:

• Proper functioning and maintenance of all fire

fighting equipment, public announcement

systems and alarms.

• Ensuring spaces are used as per their design

intentions.

• Constant use, service, repair and

maintenance of common infrastructure life

elevators, common areas lighting, STP’s and

WTP’s etc.

Post Occupancy Analysis

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Retrofitting Requirement and Analysis

• Due to various reasons sometimes the

spaces constructed don’t function as

intended. Retrofitting is done to make these

places more functional or perform better.

• This retrofitting requires a lot of analysis to

be done before hand to understand the

scope, use and effect of the intended

retrofit. These are the things to keep in mind

while planning a retrofit:

• Possibility of solving the issue without retrofit.

• Effect of the retrofit on the occupants and building

performance.

• Level of requirement of the retrofit and various

alternatives with cost implications.


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Energy Usage Analysis

• Energy consumption is one of the biggest

reasons people opt for retrofitting. The

energy consumption analysis can give us

an idea of how to operate the building

most efficiently.

• Some of the points to remember while

doing an energy usage analysis are:

• Comparison of amount of energy required in an

ideal case vs. existing case.

• Areas of maximum usage and how to reduce it.

• In case of Photovoltaics, the amount of energy

produced compared to the amount used.

• The intelligent regular monitoring of usage to

identify peaks and spikes to tackle etc.


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Basic Architectural Analysis of

Mahatma Gandhi Central Library IITR2014

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Levels of Assessment

SITE LEVEL

BUILDING LEVEL

SERVICES

FACILITY MANAGEMENT

INTERIORS

FINANCE

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SITE LEVEL

BUILDING LEVEL

SERVICES

FACILITY MANAGEMENT

INTERIORS

FINANCE

VegetationContours

Services

Roadways

Front, side and rear margins

Zoning

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SITE LEVEL

BUILDING LEVEL

SERVICES

FACILITY MANAGEMENT

INTERIORS

FINANCE

Structure

Accessibility

Services

Safety features

Fenestration

Floor plans

Materials used

Quality and Aesthetics

Façade

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SITE LEVEL

BUILDING LEVEL

SERVICES

FACILITY MANAGEMENT

INTERIORS

FINANCE

Electrical

Plumbing and Sanitation

HVAC

Fire safety and protection

Vertical and horizontal circulation

Façade engineering

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SITE LEVEL

BUILDING LEVEL

SERVICES

FACILITY MANAGEMENT

INTERIORS

FINANCE

Space management

Materials usedDoorways

Lighting

VentilationFurnishingThermal comfort

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LIBRARY BUILDING• Roads on all the four sides

• Landscaped area in front with ramps

• Parking lots on left and right side of the building

• MBA department, new lecture hall complex, and main

building on side and front respectively

SERVICE ROOM• PANEL BOARD• GENERATOR• FIRE PUMPS• CHILLER PLANT

PARKING LOT

PARKING LOT

ISSUES IDENTIFIED AT SITE LEVEL Road runs on all 4 sides of the building but there is

a single entry into the building

Another entrance is provided to basement for ac

plant room but never used

The road access has not been utilized for escape

areas from fire staircases

Hard landscaping outside building. A mix of soft &

hard landscape would reduce heat gain & result

into more aesthetically appealing & usable space

Ramps provided for access are very steep

making it inaccessible

Street lighting is inefficient and unsufficientSITE LEVEL 16 of 45

PARKING ROAD ACCESS LANDSCAPING COOLING TOWERS DG SETS

SITE LEVEL 17 of 45

BUILDING LEVEL

Total covered area 85,000 sq. ft. Building structure RCCBuilding Orientation E-W (East facing)Outer façade Sandstone claddingMain consideration in design Natural lightReading capacity 700 nos.Open reading room capacity 80 nos.Stacking Capacity 3,00,000 documentsAir conditioner 2 x 250 TNStandby power 250 KVA generatorNo. of meters 2Power for computers 2 x 60 KVA UPS system

A staff of 30 is

provided in building

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SERVICES PROVIDED

Circulation Reference User Education E- Resource Access Online Public Access Catalogue Xerox Printing Current Awareness Text Book Loan Scheme Inter Library Loan Document Delivery Consultancy Software Development Digital Library Institutional repository

ICT INFRASTRUCTURE

Telephones 42 Jacks

Internet I/Os 200

24 port switches 8

Wired for desktop

Wireless for laptops

User Terminals 45

Terminals for office use30

Servers 08

Planetary scanners PS-700002 & PS-5000C

POE based Digital 47 CamerasSurveillance

BUILDING LEVEL 19 of 45

LOWER GROUND FLOOR

Conference Room

Theses & Dissertations

Pre-1970 Journals

Cyber Room

Imaging Centre

Server Room I/C automation I/C Archives Training Room A/C plant UPS Room Archives Text Books


GROUND FLOOR

Return Counter Reference Collection Reserved and Overnight

Issue Collection Office / Superintendent Librarian Current Periodicals I/C Periodicals

Periodical Section Online Catalogue/ E-

resource Terminals

Xeroxing & Printing

Issue Counter Property boxes

Notice Boards

Open Reading Room

(Entry from outside)

BUILDING LEVELBUILDING LEVEL 21 of 45

FIRST FLOOR

I/C Technical Processing & Book stacks

Binding Unit Book Stacks I/C Acquisition Acquisition section Technical Processing

section


SECOND FLOOR

Bound Periodicals

(1970-onwards)

News Papers

Periodicals Binding

Unit


BUILDING LEVEL

ISSUES IDENTIFIED AT BUILDING LEVEL DESIGN INEFFIECIENCY

1. Illegible placement of service cores

2. No visual connect & axis to service cores

3. Dark corridors

4. Partial fire norms compliance in the entire design

& material usage

5. No fire exits open to pressurised areas or open

areas & long travel distance to fire exits

6. No skid free flooring material

7. No barrier free design principles adhered to

8. Toilets for differently abled not provided

9. No mock drill or pre – incident plans provided

10. No/illegible signage

11. Narrow fire exit corridors can lead to stampede

12. No ergonomics taken care of

13. Huge building without strategic space allocation

14. Inefficient damp proofing of toilet

walls, in several other places inside

the building as well

15. No waste management inside or

outside the building

16. Landscaped area is majorly hard –

results in more heat gain through

the huge glass facades of building.

17. No provision for rain water

harvesting though there is ample

scope for this

18. Landscape area just provides the

grandeur to the building

19. Riser of steps being very low & poses problem in ease of movement

20. Lack of street lighting results in very

dark roads around night time.


Low height risers

Fountains provided at the entrance

could utilize water from rain water

runoff

Steep ramp slope is not favourable for

person with disability.BUILDING LEVEL 25 of 45

BASEMENT

1.EXHIBITION AREA

2.ARCHIVES3.HVAC PLANT ROOM AND AHUs

1. EXHIBITION AREA

SPACE LEVEL

ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED A make shift arrangement is

done

It is not a well defined

exhibition zone.

SERVICES AND INTERIORS 26 of 45

Areas on the first floor remain dark despite the atrium

Dampness in the atrium aboveexhibition area

Dampness in the atrium above exhibition area & no vents for smoke evacuation

No zoning done in the entire building -Unsafe fire safety practice

Ample no. of sprinklers & smoke detectors used but no smoke evacuation fixture

Exhibition area mainly used for reading purposes onlySERVICES AND INTERIORS 27 of 45

Down lighters installed on the

columns are huge & unappealing

If the exhibition area is utilized for

display purposes it will entirely

hamper the circulation in the

basement

Basement is very poorly lit and not

ventilated

Sprinklers and smoke detectors

provided at c/c 2m, this being the

only area where this provision is

strategically met

Lights installed in side walls along

the staircase are not working

Tread and riser of the stairs are

NBC compliant

Stairs should have anti skid

grooves

Lighting fixtures haphazardly

provided which does not light up

the entire area

Fire safety alarm and control panel in exhibition area


2. ARCHIVES

SPACE LEVEL

ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

Archive section has no natural light.

The stacks are unevenly placed with no

proper aisles and even the lights are not on

aisles rather on stacks

The fans are too placed above stacks making

them useless

Smoke detectors and sprinklers are provided

in the room but wet sprinklers can destroy

archive stock

False ceiling is broken at places leading to

leakage of water from HVAC ducts

No provision for smoke evacuation

Lift opens inside the archive section


Use of wet sprinklers will spoil the books

Inappropriate lighting fixture installation


3. AHUs AND AC PLANT ROOM

SERVICES

INTERIORS

FINANCE

FACILITY MANAGEMENT

SPACE LEVEL

FEATURES

Water-cooled screw chiller installed

Chiller and cooling towers both are

provided. Cooling tower used in case of

extreme heating

Capacity of compressor is 150 tonnes

Capacity of chiller is 100 tonnes

4 chiller and condenser pumps are

provided (2 each)

Exhaust fans are provided for smoke

evacuation

Total 10 AHUs in the building – 1 CSU also

near archive section - sufficient

Plan - AHUs AND AC PLANT ROOM


FEATURES

Sump room provided near Ramp

Ramp has an entry directly from outside

but it stays closed all the time

Condenser gets fed by the water from

cooling towers – 16000 l capacity

Chillers are fed by the water from

overhead roof tank – 25000 l capacity

AHU and HVAC control panels are

provided

2 boilers are also installed for heating

purposes

Only one condenser-chiller runs at a

time. Second one is used as a backup

Manual monitoring of working and

electricity consumption is done on a

daily basis

Walls and ceiling are insulated by

Polyurethane

The HVAC system used here is a centralized

arrangement but it is operated manually and

uses R-22 refrigerant.

Under deck insulation of ceiling is done

15 HP, 22 AMP squirrel cage induction motor is

used

Air based AHUs installed with 15,000 CFM/CMH

Hose reels stationed near AHUs in all the cores

ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

Manually operated HVAC system - inefficient

Inefficient way of distributing air

No fire detectors or alarms or sprinklers

Better insulation of chiller needed

Leaks occur due to windows, door and external

door leading to basement

No waste management

Under deck insulation is unnecessary


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MA

IN E

NTR

Y

• Office spaces• Office rooms• Reading room• Computer rm• Reserved

collection• Stack

GROUND FLOOR


Office Area – Issues to be Addressed

• Less lighting – in terms of number of fixtures and intensity

• Only small downlights are provided – Few not working

• Furniture arrangement not planned – adds to congestion

• Less number of diffusers – comparatively less cooling

• Diffusers are not placed efficiently

• No ceiling fans – only wall fans are provided – not adequate

• No sprinklers/ fire extinguishers, only smoke detectors are provided

• The lift is difficult to access


Computer Access Room- Issues to be Addressed

• No sprinklers/ Fire extinguishers

• Smoke detectors are provided but not uniformly placed

• No. of fans is less – covers less area – all users do not get fan

• Flooring – Tiles are broken due to wiring – Wires are exposed

• Wiring boxes are kept open

• Circulation blocked to an extent by the columns

• The tiles on the partition walls are falling apart – poor quality of

construction


Reading Room (External) – Issues to be Addressed

• No sprinklers/ Fire extinguishers

• Dampness on walls and floor – Plaster falling apart, flooring

discoloured

• Cracks on false ceiling – Not maintained

• Relatively hot – No proper air conditioning

• Door leaf always locked – not accessible

• Toilet not maintained – Fixtures in bad condition


VERTICAL CIRCULATIONSTAIRCASE

• Two staircases present at the rear end of the

building.

• The stairs do not open outside the building.

• They run from the roof level till the basement

level.

• The stair are tucked far away from the main

activity area.

• These staircase are also referred to as fire exits .

• The entrance to the staircase are partially

blocked at basement level.

• Second level stack room and reading areas are

accessed through these staircases.

• The doors leading to the staircase are not fire

safe doors with approved fire rating.

ELEVATORS

• The building has 4 lifts placed at the four

quadrants.

• The lifts work at 50% capacity as at any instance

only two elevators are active.

• The lifts are switched of 3 hours prior to library

closing time.

• No wheelchair friendly lifts are available

• There are two lifts near the entry but they are

within the office area at ground level and open

directly into the old periodicals and dissertation

zones.

• None of the lifts have a lift lobby and zone

markings in the lift levels.

SERVICES AND INTERIORS39 of 45

CHECKLIST FOR ASSESSING FIRE SAFETY IN A BUILDINGAs Per NBC 2016

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REFERENCES

Handbook on Building Fire Codes, TCPO

NBC-2016

2011 International Conference on Environment and Industrial innovation IPCBEE vol.12

(2011) , IACSIT Press , Singapore.

Best practice for double skin facades EIE/04/135/S07.38652 WP1 REPORT “state of the art”.

Double skin façade for office buildings, Harris Poirazis.

Arup fire & façade guides revision A

J. O’ Connor Building façade or fire safety facade.

Wikipedia

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Thank you.

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