I did research and arranged successful fire resistance tests to BS 476 conducted in the fire test laboratories in TNO Institute in Delft, Netherlands. Within the construction timescale it was not possible to get tests done in an accredited fire test lab in the UK in the late 1960s. All the floors in this 600ft (200m) high building (the HQ of NatWest bank), in the heart of the London commercial area, were composite metal deck floors with reinforcing steel mesh embedded in the overlying concrete screed and this in turn acted compositely with the supporting steel I-beams via steel studs welded to the top flanges of the beams. This double composite action gave a slim lightweight floor that could be rapidly constructed having inherent fire resistance.
Later, when working at the government Fire Research Station, I prepared, with the Steel Construction Institute (SCI), guidance on behaviour of composite deck floors in fire, see My Publications.
Client: Pell Frischmann and Partners, Consulting Engineers, London.
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