Diversified technology company 3M has developed a liquid coating for structural steelwork that can protect it from collapse for up to two hours in the event of a fire. Manchester United’s Old Trafford football stadium, the Oval Cricket Ground, Lincoln University’s student accommodation blocks and the Manchester Royal Infirmary are just a few of the buildings protected by these liquid coatings.

Developed at 3M’s site in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, the range of Scotchkote waterborne intumescent products are applied as thin films and expand up to 50 times their original thickness in the event of a fire. This protects the steel from reaching its critical temperature – or the point at which it will collapse - for long enough to allow people to evacuate the building.

Maria Reed, marketing manager for Scotchkote liquid coatings explained: “Depending on the height and final use of the building, the steel must be prevented from reaching its critical temperature for a stated length of time – usually 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes. The higher the building or the more people occupying it, the longer the time needed, so they can evacuate safely.”

Maria continued: “Like the majority of the coatings developed at 3M Northallerton, this is a waterborne material containing no solvents. This means it is safer to store, reduces health and safety issues on site and minimises disruption to other trades during the construction phase of the building.”

The coatings are mainly applied to new buildings and 3M works closely with specialist fire protection contractors to find the right product for each structure, taking into account its maximum capacity.

In the case of Old Trafford, when four new quadrants were added to the existing football stadium, Scotchkote SPX 720 was chosen to provide 90 minute fire protection on a 13,000 m2 area of structural steel.

“More and more contractors and clients are becoming aware of the health and safety and environmental issues of site applications, therefore the use of waterborne intumescents combined with their high quality, low film thickness and ease of application, are being looked at more favourably.” explained Colin Clark, sales manager for 3M fire protection coatings.

The recently launched Scotchkote SPX 730 coating offers two hours of protection and trials are underway at several major new shopping centres and a refurbished section of Brent Cross in London. Colin added: “Shopping centres attract a high numbers of visitors, so a product such as our two hour protection coating helps to meet increasingly tough fire regulations.”

3M Northallerton has built up an international reputation in the field of high performance fire resistant coatings over the past 30 years.

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