An investigation of roofing over carparks

It is common to provide roofing over open carparks for the purpose of weather protection. This paper addresses the potential fire safety issues associated with such practices when the parking areas are located directly adjacent to an allotment boundary or a building on the same allotment. This paper recognises that the presence of such a carpark roof may result in lateral flames spread such that fire spread to adjacent building is more likely than if no roof was present. It is further investigated that if the roof details can be appropriately designed, such that the roof has negligible effect on the shape of the fire plume compared with the no-roof situation, then this must be an acceptable solution.