Publishing and copyright information

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© The British Standards Institution 2025

Published by BSI Standards Limited 2025

ISBN 978 0 539 18144 9

ICS 13.220.20

The following BSI references relate to the work on this document:
Committee reference FSH/25
Draft for comment 23/30439308 DC

Foreword

Publishing information

This part of BS 8524 is published by BSI Standards Limited, under licence from The British Standards Institution, and came into effect on 30 November 2025. It was prepared by Technical Committee FSH/25, Smoke, heat control systems and components. A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to the committee manager.

Supersession

This part of BS 8524 supersedes BS 8524‑1:2013, which is withdrawn.

Relationship with other publications

BS 8524 is published in the following parts:

Part 1: Specification;
Part 2: Code of practice for application, installation and maintenance.

BS 8524‑2 gives guidance on specifying, installing and maintaining active fire curtain barrier assemblies, with recommendations for different assembly applications, wiring, power supplies and the emergency egress control.

Information about this document

This is a full revision of the document, and introduces the following principal changes:

side retention has been updated with a supporting figure;
references to ISO 21524:2021 and BS EN 15269‑11:2018 have been included;
barrier types have been updated to reflect market supply;
pressure and impact testing has been updated to force gauge methodology;
horizontal and angle barriers have been included with supporting text and figures;
durability of self-closing levels has been updated;
reaction to fire to be classified to BS EN 13501‑1:2018 has been included and national requirements for Class 0 or Class 1 have been deleted;
Annex A (previously Annex D) has been updated to strengthen gravity fail-safe testing procedures; and
Annex D (previously Annex G) has been updated to clarify time/temperature criteria.

Product testing. Users of this part of BS 8524 are advised to consider the desirability of third-party testing of product conformity with this part of BS 8524. Users seeking assistance in identifying appropriate conformity assessment bodies or schemes may ask BSI to forward their enquiries to the relevant association.

This publication can be withdrawn, revised, partially superseded or superseded. Information regarding the status of this publication can be found in the Standards Catalogue on the BSI website at knowledge.bsigroup.com, or by contacting the Customer Services team.

Where websites and webpages have been cited, they are provided for ease of reference and are correct at the time of publication. The location of a webpage or website, or its contents, cannot be guaranteed.

Use of this document

It has been assumed in the preparation of this part of BS 8524 that the execution of its provisions will be entrusted to appropriately qualified and experienced people, for whose use it has been produced.

Presentational conventions

The provisions of this document are presented in roman (i.e. upright) type. Its requirements are expressed in sentences in which the principal auxiliary verb is “shall”.

Commentary, explanation and general informative material is presented in smaller italic type, and does not constitute a normative element.

Where words have alternative spellings, the preferred spelling of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is used (e.g. “organization” rather than “organisation”).

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

In particular, attention is drawn to UK legal duties under health and safety law to prevent hazards from uncontrolled descent.

0 Introduction

0.1 Role and use of barrier assemblies

As fire-separating elements, barrier assemblies are required to provide the following main functions:

to maintain any compartmentation of buildings needed to limit the spread of fire and smoke; and
to allow access to protected escape routes, both vertical and horizontal, without any loss of fire resistance, and to limit smoke entry into these routes, i.e. protected corridors and protected shafts.

They can also be partially deployed to control the movement of fire effluent within buildings in the event of fire, prior to being fully deployed as a fire barrier.

Recommended positions and ratings for fire-separating elements for means of escape purposes are given in BS 9999, BS 9991 and BS 7974. The recommendations in BS 9999 and BS 9991 use a risk-based approach; those in BS 7974 are based on the principles of fire safety engineering.

When used as part of a fire-engineered design solution, barrier assemblies can become a critical element of that design. If barrier assemblies do not deploy to their operational position, the fire-engineered design solution would be compromised. Therefore, in the event that other fire protection systems or elements do not function, e.g. due to total power failure, the barriers are still expected to deploy to their fire-operational position to provide fire separation.

0.2 Application of barrier assemblies

Barrier assemblies used in life safety and property protection applications can be horizontal, vertical or angled. Depending upon the application, barrier assemblies can be used to replace fire doors, roller shutters, non-loadbearing walls, non-loadbearing ceilings, glazed elements, etc. They can also be used to form fire separation, e.g. forming protected routes or lobbies. When barrier assemblies are used only for fire and smoke control and a lobby is also provided, then different parameters apply, i.e. a single barrier assembly cannot be used to replace a lobby and two doors (see BS 9999 and BS 9991). Barrier assemblies can enable greater barrier widths and barrier movements using less space than other traditional methods. Recommendations on the suitability, selection, installation and maintenance of barrier assemblies are given in BS 8524‑2.

0.3 Deployment of barrier assemblies

Some examples of how barrier assemblies could be deployed are:

barriers deploy fully upon receipt of a signal from the fire alarm system;
barriers remain retracted when the fire alarm system is activated and only deploy upon receipt of a signal from a local smoke/heat detector. In these circumstances, the only barrier assemblies to deploy are those where fire or smoke are in the vicinity;
barriers deploy upon local thermal activation, e.g. upon parting of a fusible link;
barriers remain retracted when the fire alarm system is activated for a predetermined time to allow for evacuation before deploying fully;
barriers move to a given height above finished floor level when the fire alarm system is activated to contain smoke for a predetermined time before closing fully for fire containment;
barriers move to a given height above finished floor level when a specific fire alarm system signal is provided, to contain smoke when the fire location is such that the barrier assembly is not required to deploy fully; and
barriers deploy on loss of primary and auxiliary power supply.

NOTE Further information on the deployment of barrier assemblies is given in BS 8524‑2.

0.4 Heat transfer through barrier assemblies

In fire safety situations, it is often important to establish the heat transfer from one side of the separating element to the other in order to calculate escape route sizes and safe operating distances. Traditionally, for other product types, this has been established using insulation data; it is now accepted that insulation performance can be difficult to measure and achieve for barrier assemblies, and the use of radiation data is therefore also appropriate.

NOTE Further information on the application of radiation test data is given in BS 8524‑2.

1 Scope

This part of BS 8524 specifies requirements for the design, testing and classification of active fire curtain barrier assemblies, for installation in accordance with BS 8524‑2. It covers the reliability and durability, fire resistance, smoke containment and force gauge resistance performance of the active fire curtain barrier assemblies, their control devices and ancillary equipment.

The requirements within this part of BS 8524 are applicable to active fire curtain barrier assemblies of any material that are designed to provide fire resistance in most end-use applications.

This document does not apply to the following end-use applications:

barriers made of part of the building’s structure;
theatre/proscenium textile curtains, for which requirements are given in BS 5867‑1;
fabrics for curtains, drapes and window blinds, for which requirements are given in BS 5867‑1 and BS 5867‑2;
smoke barriers, for which requirements are given in BS EN 12101‑1; and
operable fabric curtains when used in retail applications to provide pedestrian access, for which requirements are given in BS EN 16034.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Barrier assembly design

4.1 General

4.2 Side retention

4.3 Additional requirements for multiple barrier assemblies

5 Performance requirements

5.1 General

5.2 Durability and force gauge

5.3 Reliability and durability

5.4 Deployment

5.5 Smoke containment

5.6 Fire resistance

5.7 Reaction to fire

5.8 Ancillary equipment

6 Information to be supplied with the barrier assembly

6.1 Installation, commissioning and operating information

6.2 Inspection, testing and maintenance information

6.3 Carrier assembly performance summary

7 Marking and labelling

Bibliography

BS 8524-1:2025

Active fire curtain barrier assemblies - Part 1: Specification

Current

Published:

21 Nov 2025