In the event of fire, the spread of fire and smoke can lead to personal injury and damage to property. For this reason, the basic fire protection requirements for standard buildings are regulated in the model building regulations or the building codes of the federal states. In addition, special constructions regulations and guidelines exist for certain special constructions, which must be observed. However, these regulations originally only apply to new buildings. Existing buildings often deviate from the currently valid building supervision regulations or the legal provisions introduced as technical building regulations. A building-specific and protection-oriented fire protection planning with appropriate consideration of the existing structure therefore requires a particularly intensive study of the fire protection requirements.

In addition to the fire protection performance of existing buildings, the escape route situation and the preventive measures to prevent the occurrence of fire and, in particular, the spread of fire or smoke must be considered from a conceptual point of view.

Fire protection occupies a special position in building law due to the considerable dangers for the users of a building and the possible consequential damage that can be avoided in the event of fire. The resulting basic and individual requirements of the model building regulations or the respective state building regulations require a thorough examination of an existing building. This guideline therefore aims to describe the principles of fire protection planning for existing buildings. Practical solutions are shown for conflicts arising from interventions in existing buildings. In this context, reference is made to relevant standards and guidelines as well as supplementary technical literature.

1 Introduction

2 Fire protection in existing buildings

2.1 General Information

2.2 Preservation of the status quo

2.3 Retrofitting / Reconstruction / Change of Use

3 Fire protection planning

3.1 Cause

3.2 Archival stock analysis

3.3 Structural evaluation and assessment (fire protection analysis)

3.4 Planning stages

3.5 Accessibility

3.6 Protection of cultural assets

3.7 Application of fire protection engineering procedures

4 Approval phase

4.1 Review of the fire protection proof

4.2 Deviations and facilitations

5 Construction phase

5.1 Implementation of the fire protection proof

5.2 Observation of construction of fire protection measures

5.3 Fire protection proof for construction sites / provisional proof

5.4 Necessary technical inspections

6 Documentation

6.1 Principles

6.2 Necessary documentation and compilation of proofs

7 Fire protection management

7.1 Instruction and building operation

7.2 Maintenance

7.3 Recurring tests

7.4 Uses

8 Potential classification of existing building components

8.1 Basic principles

8.2 Use of classifications from the building period

9 References