The environment in which we live relentlessly threatens to decay or destroy our built cultural heritage through climatic and man-made means. Fire presents the most severe threat to the fabric and content of historic buildings. The destruction, when it occurs is extremely swift, the loss caused is often complete and the indirect damage from smoke and water can also be significant. The incidences of fires in churches is currently exceeding those in all other historic building types. This trend is destroying irreplaceable national treasures as arguably, England and Wales contains the greatest collection, in terms of number and antiquity, of ancient parish churches in the world. This thesis presents an investigation into the fundamental principles underlying fire safety in parish churches. It identifies that the danger to life from fire is not high, due to the fact that the natural layout of churches facilitates good evacuation routes and travel distances. The threat to church property, however, is considerable as churches generally possess very limited fire safety measures. In addition, problems of building isolation, restricted access and limited water supply means that early intervention is unlikely. Such evidence prompted the need for a decision making tool to aid the custodians of churches in the management of fire safety and in the allocation of scarce resources. The aims of this thesis were to develop a prototype fire safety evaluation procedure for the property protection of parish churches and to examine, using a sample of churches, the effectiveness of the methodology. This has been achieved by developing a 'points scheme' technique to enable the judgement on the adequacy of fire safety to be undertaken. The work involved assigning numerical values to qualitative descriptions of events, techniques and processes by a group of experts representing the interests of those involved in the use, management, and preservation of churches as well as fire safety engineering. The opinions gathered were brought to a consensus in a series of Delphi group meetings, through discussion and matrix manipulation. A 'collated norm' was established, from a collection of fire safety guidance documents for places of worship, against which technical value judgements are made and the acceptable level of fire safety is adjudicated. The procedure is unique in its evaluation configuration, in that it balances the level of fire safety against the vulnerability of property fabric and content. The assessment is undertaken through an 'observational survey'. This is conducted by an expert, knowledgeable in ecclesiastical building construction and fire safety, observing all parts of the building and making judgements on the adequacy of eighteen identified fire safety components. Features of the building which are highlighted through the assessment as being a high fire risk can receive a more in-depth survey, beyond the scope of this evaluation procedure. The practical operation of the evaluation procedure has been tested on ten churches. The outcome shows a broad spread of results. An independent qualitative observational assessment by experts support the outcome of the evaluation procedure in nine out of ten cases. Preliminary repeatability application trials have also been conducted. They showed an encouraging level of consistency, illustrating further that the developed procedure is of positive value and utility. The versatility of the evaluation procedure enables a direct link to be made between potential improvements in the assessment score and the actual cost of making fire safety improvements. This facility enables decision makers to evaluate fire safety upgrade options.

This research investigated various factors considered to influence safety attitudes of construction workers, and management, towards safety performance in the UK Construction Industry. The factors examined are listed in the research model and consist of historical, economic, psychological, technical, procedural, organisational, environmental, and safety performance variables (factors). The study based upon the above factors was conducted under the key assumption that: "Safety Performance is a function of operatives' and management attitudes in respect of behavioural and environmental factors in the Construction Industry". This key assumption lead to further sub-hypotheses, namely: a) Safety performance is a function of operative attitudes towards the above listed factors; b) Safety performance is a function of management attitudes towards the above listed factors; c) Operative attitudes towards the above factors differ from those of site managers; d) Site managers' attitudes towards the above factors differ from those of contract managers, and safety advisors, etc.; The research methodology centred upon literature reviews, interviews and questionnaires administered to operatives, site managers, contract managers and safety advisors, in ten construction companies in the UK, covering a sample population of 325 subjects. Analysis of the 325 questionnaires suggests that the key research assumptions, and attendant sub hypothesis are found to be valid as far as the research data examined are concerned. Ultimately, the results of multivariate analysis determined that organisational factor, and industry norms, are the primary and most dominant influence upon safety performance in the UK Construction Industry.

The use of lightweight building systems is very controversial as existing knowledge about their performance is limited. Not enough research has been conducted to determine the suitability of these modern construction technologies and there is an ongoing controversy as to whether they are an appropriate replacement to traditional construction techniques. The prime objective of this study is to present a number of methodologies to assess lightweight external walling systems focusing on thermal efficiency, structure and fire performance, which are currently the main driving forces for this industry. Traditionally, these areas have been studied separately but there is a need to integrate them in order to get comprehensive solutions to the way these systems are designed. The drive to achieve improvements in one of these specific areas could potentially result in reduced effectiveness in the others. That is the reason why an integrative approach is recommended. These techniques are meant to be applied in the design phase of building projects so as to provide early quantitative information about the systems analyzed. The methodologies described herein are then applied to real life light steel building solutions. Within this context, two different wall constructions are examined and conclusions made on their relative performance. The study highlights the importance of having analytical and experimental solutions as a framework for further development. Two different approaches have been considered to assess thermal efficiency, structure and fire performance. On the one hand, a prescriptive approach has been employed to establish regulation compliance. On the other hand, a performance based approach is taken to actually understand and explain how these systems work in real life conditions. The outcome is a comprehensive set of tools to assure both industry and other stake holders.

The generation of static electricity during the transport of low-conductivity materials is a well-known but little understood phenomenon. Until recently, large scale experimentation has been the only means by which the hazard associated with such charging could be assessed. Furthermore, the wide range of materials which exhibit such charging characteristics, coupled with the wide variety of scale involved, make conclusions drawn from one arrangement difficult to apply to another. Consequently, the ability to model numerically the electrostatic fields arising from such charging is a useful design aid.In this thesis, the numerical methods most commonly used in the computation of electric fields are compared, and the most suitable technique for the analysis of a broad range of electrostatically hazardous situations, the finite element method, is examined in depth. This method is used to analyse three different types of problem. The first, which serves partly as a validation exercise, considers the interpretation of field mill readings, and lays down guidelines for their calibration. The second case involves the transport and subsequent storage of diesel fuel in glass reinforced plastic tanks. The third situation considered is the charging of high density polyethylene powder during pneumatic transport.Despite the diversity of materials involved and the widely differing scales of experimentation, the finite element method is shown to be capable of accurate assessment of the electrostatic conditions which exist in each of these three situations. Furthermore, the method has provided information which is unobtainable experimentally and has thus permitted the charging and relaxation mechanisms which are at work to be more fully understood.

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