Leading manufacturer of modular buildings, Thurston Group, is setting the industry standard for fire safety and sustainability, with a £250,000 investment to achieve early compliance with upcoming changes to construction site legislation in January 2025.
The move will see Thurston Group become the first manufacturer to achieve EPC A rating while maintaining the highest fire safety standards.
Tough new requirements are being rolled out in January 2025 by the Fire Protection Association’s Joint Code of Practice (JCoP) to reduce the risk of fire on construction sites, specifically regarding the provision of temporary buildings, hired or purchased.
Wakefield-headquartered Thurston Group manufactures 4,200 temporary accommodation units per year and has invested significantly in product development and testing to ensure its units comply with the guidance and requirements, which come into effect on 1st January next year.
Thurston’s Temporary Accommodation Units have been tested and surpassed JCoP requirements. The achievement in surpassing JCoP requirements while attaining an EPC A rating highlights Thurston’s dedication to providing the safest and most energy-efficient temporary accommodation solutions for the construction industry.
The new JCoP v10.1 legislation stipulates improvements in materials’ fire performance for temporary accommodation units being installed within six metres of a building, a greater focus on reducing fire spreading, such as ensuring doors and windows are fitted with automatic self-closers and a greater emphasis on units maintaining their load bearing capacity (R,) along with structural integrity (E,) and their thermal insulation (I)1 for a minimum of 30 minutes.
Matt Goff, managing director at Thurston Group, emphasises the company’s commitment to safety: “As the largest supplier of temporary accommodation and modular buildings used extensively by the construction industry, Thurston Group has been leading proactively on fire safety and prevention for many years, and our proactive fire testing programme over recent months has found that ensures our temporary accommodation units not only meet but surpass the requirements of the new fire safety regulations almost a year ahead of schedule.”
“We are proud to see the modular industry once again lead in redefining safety standards. Thurston Group is delighted to be at the forefront of this critical area.”
Thurston Group’s commitment extends beyond current regulations. The firm’s in-house design teams are actively developing new products with even greater fire performance capabilities.
The JCoP is written by the Fire Protection Association and is considered the benchmark for fire safety guidance on construction projects and best practice guide for fire prevention on construction sites.
The legislation changes in the JCoP 10th edition outline the requirements for any new site setup. These include:
- A minimum 6m (but preferably 10m) firebreak between temporary buildings and other buildings
- A limit on temporary building height (of 18m)
- Locating units in areas which are easily accessible to the emergency service
- Construction site fire safety plans to include all temporary buildings
- Design improvements for temporary buildings’ fire performance
- Improvements in materials’ fire performance including non-combustible or very low combustible insulation, materials producing minimal smoke, and those that don’t create flaming droplets.
- Enhanced roof safety: replacing currently compliant roofing with a more rigorous standard.
