Fire protection in shopping malls: how to achieve safe and compartmentalized spaces

Shopping malls are high-traffic spaces where fire protection is essential to ensure the safety of users and preserve the integrity of the building. One example in Spain is the fire at the La Vaguada Shopping Center in Madrid, where the rapid spread of the fire highlighted the need for adapted fire protection systems in such buildings.

What will you discover in this article?

• We identify the main challenges shopping malls face in terms of fire protection: open design, simultaneous evacuation, and sectors with different thermal loads.
• We analyze the requirements of the BR (Building Regulations) regarding compartmentalization and the fire resistance criteria applicable to these types of buildings.
• We examine the advantages of fire curtains as compartmentalization solutions, capable of responding to the specific needs of shopping malls.

Why are shopping malls a challenge for fire protection?

Shopping complexes have a series of characteristics that differentiate them from other types of buildings and present unique challenges when it comes to fire protection. Below, we group the main challenges and how compartmentalization solutions can efficiently address them, ensuring safety without compromising the functionality of these spaces.

High foot traffic and simultaneous evacuation

One of the main challenges of shopping malls is the large number of people who pass through their facilities daily. Especially during peak times, such as weekends or sales seasons, corridors, entertainment areas, and restaurants become filled with visitors. This creates a scenario where, in the event of a fire, evacuation becomes more complex due to the large number of people who must exit the building simultaneously. It is essential that evacuation routes are well-planned and that compartmentalization systems control the spread of fire and smoke.

Large open spaces with multiple levels

Shopping malls are designed to offer a comfortable and fluid shopping experience, resulting in an open layout with multiple access points and corridors that connect the stores. While this design facilitates the flow of people, it also accelerates the spread of fires and smoke, as there are no permanent physical barriers to halt their progress.

Additionally, the multi-level layout adds a layer of complexity, as fire and smoke can move rapidly between floors through escalators, elevators, and ventilation ducts. Therefore, it is crucial to properly compartmentalize each floor to prevent the vertical spread of fire and ensure that people can evacuate safely from any level of the building.

Risk diversity depending on the type of store

The variety of establishments in shopping malls introduces different levels of fire risk. From clothing stores that store large amounts of flammable textiles, to restaurants with industrial kitchens that represent potential ignition sources, each store requires a specific approach to manage fire risk. The diversity of these businesses means that fire protection must be flexible and adaptable to the needs of each establishment to prevent a fire in one store from spreading to other areas of the mall.

Warehouses, industrial kitchens, and high fire load technical areas

In large shopping malls, warehouses and storage areas, typically located in back or underground spaces, present a significant risk. These areas often contain large quantities of flammable products such as cardboard, plastics, and other packaging materials, increasing the fire load. A fire in a warehouse can grow quickly if not controlled, affecting not only the stored products but also the rest of the building. Proper compartmentalization of these areas is crucial to contain the fire at its origin and prevent it from spreading to other commercial areas.

The key role of passive fire protection in shopping mall fire strategy

In the design of any fire safety system, it is essential to differentiate between active and passive protection strategies. Both are complementary and should be considered from the early stages of the project. Below, we delve into the role of passive protection, its regulatory and technical foundations, and how its proper implementation helps contain a fire from the very beginning.

What is passive protection and what objectives does it pursue?

Passive fire protection encompasses a range of constructive and technical solutions designed to limit the spread of fire and smoke. Unlike active systems, it does not require activation mechanisms or human intervention: it works by its own composition and resistance from the moment the fire starts.

Thus, the objectives of passive protection are to confine the fire to the sector of origin, preventing its horizontal and vertical spread; maintain the stability of the building, preserving the resistance of load-bearing elements exposed to fire; protect evacuation routes, ensuring that smoke and hot gases do not invade transit areas; and facilitate the action of intervention teams.

Within passive protection strategies, compartmentalization stands out. This involves dividing the building into fire sectors using elements with certified fire resistance, so that in case of a disaster, the fire and smoke remain confined in a limited compartment.

Although traditionally solved with walls, fire doors, or rigid partitions, in complex environments like shopping malls, fire curtains and smoke barriers offer a more effective and flexible alternative, enabling compartmentalization without altering the design or limiting the building’s operation, as we will see later.

Applicable regulations: Building Regulations (BR) and compartmentalization limits

Passive protection is primarily regulated by the Fire safety: Approved Document B (BR). Specifically, section SI 1.3 establishes the compartmentalization requirements to limit the spread of fire within buildings:

“The building shall be divided into fire sectors separated by elements with adequate fire resistance, depending on the intended use and the sector’s surface area.”

For shopping malls (publicly accessible establishments), the most relevant regulatory requirements are:

• Maximum surface area per fire sector: 2,500 m². This limit can be exceeded if additional measures are implemented, such as smoke evacuation systems, low fire load, or increased EI fire resistance rating.
• Separation between commercial premises, technical areas, and warehouses using elements with a minimum classification of EI-60, and in many cases EI-120, especially in areas of special risk like industrial kitchens or technical rooms.
• Fire resistance of protected evacuation routes: EI-60 or higher is required for elements delimiting escape routes, connecting corridors, and protected staircases.

The classification of elements is governed by European standards:

• EN 13501-2: Fire behavior classification.
• EN 1634-1: Fire resistance testing for doors, curtains, and movable elements.
• EN 15269-11: Extension of the application field for fire curtains.

Relationship between active and passive protection: complementary and synergistic systems

Active and passive protection should not be seen as independent systems but as two interdependent pillars within a comprehensive fire safety strategy. Their proper interaction helps reduce the fire’s spread rate, limits the affected area, improves the effectiveness of active systems (sprinklers, detectors, BIEs), and increases the available time for evacuation and emergency response teams.

For example, in a shopping mall, a fire outbreak in an industrial kitchen can be quickly contained by an automatic sprinkler system, while a fire curtain prevents the fire from spreading to the main corridor or adjacent stores, preserving the building’s functionality and minimizing damage. This synergy is especially important in buildings with open designs, where physical barriers are scarce and the risk of rapid spread is high.

The importance of SHEV systems and their coordination with fire curtains

In shopping malls, smoke is one of the main risk factors in the event of a fire. Its accumulation can block evacuation routes, reduce visibility, and raise temperatures to critical levels, even in areas far from the origin of the fire. For this reason, the BR requires the implementation of specific systems for its control. As stated in section SI 3 of the Basic Fire Safety Document:

“Temperature and smoke evacuation control systems must channel smoke towards extraction zones through pressurization or natural or forced ventilation, maintain visibility and temperature conditions in evacuation routes, and prevent smoke stratification in occupied areas, reducing exposure to toxic gases.”

To fulfill these functions, it is necessary to divide the building’s total volume into smoke reservoirs, delimited by textile barriers that channel the gases towards extraction points.

Compartmentalization solutions for shopping malls: flexibility and effectiveness

Within passive fire protection, compartmentalization is the most effective measure to limit the spread of fire and smoke, ensuring the building is divided into airtight sectors and enabling safe evacuation. Among all compartmentalization solutions, fire curtains and smoke control barriers represent a significant advance in spaces like shopping malls.

Technical advantages of fire curtains and smoke control barriers

Fire curtains and smoke control barriers offer a solution for compartmentalization in shopping malls. They only deploy in case of a fire and remain hidden during the building’s normal operation, avoiding the need for visible fixed enclosures. This allows compliance with fire resistance regulations (EI, EW, DH/DA) without interfering with the operation or layout of the space. Their modular, lightweight, and adaptable installation facilitates integration into different types of structures without overloading or heavy construction work.

Flexible compartmentalization for large spaces and diverse configurations

Thanks to their design and ability to reach large dimensions, these solutions allow for the compartmentalization of spaces with complex geometries, such as double heights, atriums, long corridors, or vertical cores. Unlike conventional construction elements, curtains adapt to the project, not the other way around. This enables effective compartmentalization even in projects with variable distribution or areas that need to keep passages open until the system is activated.

Compatibility with architectural design and user experience

Fire curtains integrate invisibly into the environment, without disrupting the visual continuity or architectural design. This discretion is particularly important in commercial spaces, where aesthetics and perceived comfort directly influence the user experience. Their automatic activation only occurs in emergency situations, allowing the space to remain open, accessible, and attractive, without sacrificing the required protection levels.

Optimizing usable space without compromising safety

By not requiring walls, doors, or other elements that reduce usable space, these solutions allow for maximizing the commercial use of available space. They are ideal in high-traffic areas, sales zones, or common spaces where every square meter counts. Additionally, compartmentalization provides the freedom to redistribute uses or adapt layouts without losing compartmentalization capacity, improving the profitability and flexibility of the project.

What can Tecnitex bring to a fire protection project in shopping malls?

Passive fire protection in shopping malls requires technical solutions that not only comply with regulations but also precisely adapt to the needs of each project: building geometry, differentiated uses, architectural design, evacuation requirements, and operational constraints.

Tecnitex is a specialized partner in textile solutions for compartmentalization and smoke control, offering engineering, product, quality control, and comprehensive technical support. This ensures that each system is designed, installed, and maintained with the highest technical and regulatory rigor.

Custom Design for Each Commercial Project

Each shopping mall presents a unique configuration, both architecturally and functionally. Therefore, at Tecnitex, we work with a completely personalized approach, analyzing the building’s geometry, the use of spaces, and evacuation routes to design tailor-made solutions that ensure effective compartmentalization without affecting the mall’s operation.

Our systems are integrated from the project phase, in coordination with engineers, architects, and safety managers, to ensure that each fire curtain or smoke barrier fulfills its specific function within the overall fire protection system.

Experience in large spaces and public areas

Tecnitex has extensive experience in large-scale projects, both nationally and internationally, in shopping malls, stations, hospitals, airports, and logistics spaces. This experience allows us to anticipate the specific technical challenges of publicly accessible buildings. Additionally, we have developed solutions to meet various needs.

In-house manufacturing and complete control of the process

One of Tecnitex’s main strengths is that we design, manufacture, test, and verify all our systems in-house, from the technical fabric to the electronic control units. This vertical integration allows us to:

• Adapt the product to the real specifications of the project.
• Reduce delivery times.
• Ensure total quality control at every phase.
• Quickly introduce technical improvements based on regulatory or functional evolution.

Additionally, our systems are tested under European standards (EN 13501-2, EN 1634-1, EN 12101-1) and come with Technical Suitability Evaluation Reports, ensuring their documentary validity for permits and project management authorities.

Technical support and specialized regulatory consulting

Beyond the product, Tecnitex offers technical and regulatory consulting services that add real value to the design of each fire protection system. We advise on interpreting and applying the BR (Technical Building Code), assess specific building risks, and work closely with the project management teams to justify each solution in compliance with current regulations.

Our technical team is made up of engineers specialized in fire protection and building safety, which allows us to accompany the client from needs calculation to the final system validation on-site, ensuring that each installation not only works but is properly documented and audited.