Shopping center buildings are complicated buildings which may not be able to be cost-effectively designed to the deemed-to-satisfy provisions of the building regulations. An extensive research project, which looked at most aspects of fire safety in shopping centers, has been undertaken in Australia under the direction of the Fire Code Reform Centre. The outcomes from this project have been used to develop a more rational performance-based design approach. Findings from the research project and aspects of the design approach are presented. The paper only addresses low-rise, sprinklered shopping center buildings with four stories or less above ground.
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2.
Bennetts, I. D., Poh, K. W. and Lee, A. C., BCA Fire Safety Requirements for Shopping Centers (Fire Code Reform Center Project 6), BHP Research Report No. BHPR/SM/R/045, June 1996 (see also: http://www.abcb.gov.au/content/r&d/fcrc/index.cfm).
3.
Bennetts, I. D., Culton, M., Dickerson, M., Lewins, R. R., Poh, K. W., Poon, S. L., Ralph, R., Lee, A. C., and Beever, P. R., Shopping Center Review(Fire Code Reform Center Project 6), BHP Research Report No. BHPR/SM/R/G/058, January 1997 (see also: http://www.abcb.gov.au/content/r&d/fcrc/index.cfm).
4.
Beever, P. F., Lee, A. C., Bennetts, I. D., Poh, K. W. and Poon, S. L., Reviewof Fire Safety in Shopping Centers: The Key Issues, (Fire Code Reform Center Project 6), BHP Research in Report No. BHPR/SM/R/G/060, February 1997 (see also: http://www.abcb.gov.au/content/r&d/fcrc/index.cfm).
5.
Bennetts, I. D., Poh, K. W., Thomas, I. R., Lee, A. C. and Beever, P. F., Case Studies of Fires in Retail Building, (Fire Code Reform Center Project 6), BHP Research Report No. BHPR/SM/R/056, October 1996 (see also: http://www.abcb.gov.au/content/r&d/fcrc/index.cfm).
6.
Thomas, I. R., Analysis of US Retail Fire, (Fire Code Reform Center Project 6), BHP Research Report No. BHPR/SM/R/G/056, February 1997 (see also: http://www.abcb.gov.au/content/r&d/fcrc/index.cfm).
7.
Bennetts I. D. et al., Simulated Shopping Center Fire Tests, BHP Research Report No. BHPR/SM/R//G/062, March 1997 (see also: http://www.abcb.gov.au/content/r&d/fcrc/index.cfm).
8.
Moore, I. and Timms, G., Reliability of Smoke Control Systems, Report Undertaken for Fire Code Reform Center – Project 6, Scientific Services Laboratory, Report No. XR0122/ R1, April, 1997.
9.
Bennetts, I. D., Poh, K. W., Poon, S. L., Thomas, I. R., Lee, A. C., Beever, P. F., Ramsay, G.C. and Timms, G. R., Fire Safety in Shopping Centers, (Fire Code Reform Center Project 6), BHP Research Report No. BHPR/SM/R/073, August 1997 (see also: http://www.abcb.gov.au/content/r&d/fcrc/index.cfm).
10.
Fire Code Reform Centre, Fire Engineering Guidellines, 1996.
11.
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12.
Thomas, I. R., Effectiveness of Fire Safety Components and Systems, International Conference on Engineered Fire Protection Design, Proceedings, 2001, pp. 151–173.
13.
Bennetts, I. D., Thomas, I. R. and Poh, K. W., Design of Sprinklered Shopping Centre Buildings for Fire Safety, BHP/OneSteel Publication, 2000 (see also http://www.onesteel.com/productsdb/).
