Safety of building structures and the related infrastructure

Safety of building structures and the related infrastructure forms the basis and need for regulation
of building practices and availability of regulatory and reference design codes. The National
Construction Code (NCC), Eurocodes are among the few regulation manuals that have been
availed for reference to ensure compliance to safety considerations against fire, comfort, and
access considerations. This paper addresses the site inspection report on structure facades on site,
its design including protection against fire occurrences. In assessing the structure facades, it is
vital to understand how waterproofing and wind exclusion is attained. This entails application of
specific techniques such as the use of stepped-insulated glass units and wind protection elements.
To achieve waterproofing and wind exclusion, materials such as sealant are used. This paper also
addresses the sequence of activities when installing glass facades, entrance doors, and their
maintenance.
Facades are among the key elements in structural works. Therefore, facades should be carefully
and adequately designed to support any possible stresses that would result in the construction. To
ensure this, the facades need to be designed to withstand loadings on the structure including wind
loads and loading from weight of the cladding material to be used.
Throughout the design life of a structure, provisions should be made against possible events of
fire as described in this paper. A structure should therefore be fitted with fire protection systems
as well as ways to manage the situations in such occurrences. Provisions for safety egress points
and smoke detections systems, ventilation are to be considered. The materials used for
construction should conform to fire resistance level rating hence guaranteeing safety of the
structure to allow safe evacuation. Glass curtainwall façade and lifts also serve to mitigate the
resulting effects as discussed in the paper.