We build differently today than we did decades ago. The usage requirements for buildings have increased significantly. Building components are becoming larger and materials more load-bearing. The safety of people and animals in the event of a fire is an essential basic requirement that buildings must guarantee. The performance of building products and components in the event of fire is usually determined experimentally by means of fire tests. MFPA Leipzig GmbH has invested several million euros in the expansion of the fire testing facility in Laue near Delitzsch in order to meet the ever-increasing demands of the necessary verification process. To this end, the largest investment in the company’s more than 20-year history was made and a new hall with three separate test benches was built.

“With the new test benches, we can test walls up to 7m high and 5m wide as well as ceilings and beams up to 12m long. We can apply loads of up to 1,000 tons during fire exposure. This means that we can even realistically simulate the effects on tunnels and thus literally provide reliable answers for behavior in the event of a fire,” says Michael Juknat, head of the fire testing center.

The Saxon State Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor and Transport, Martin Dulig, together with the District Administrator of the district of North Saxony, Kai Emanuel, and the Lord Mayor of Delitzsch, Manfred Wilde, attended the ceremony in the presence of partners from industry and commerce, key responsible parties and the local authorities.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Yesterday, Wednesday, we were able to introduce ourselves as a research and testing institute in the construction industry to the members of the German Association for Noise Protection on Traffic Routes.

They met as part of their general meeting in Leipzig and took the opportunity to be introduced to us by our Managing Director Dr.-Ing. habil. Jörg Schmidt and his colleagues Dr.-Ing. Immanuel Wojan and Dipl.-Phys. Dietmar Sprinz took the opportunity to learn more about the LOAD-BEARING STRUCTURES AND SOUND INSULATION division, which is appropriate in this context.

The will to pay more attention to environmental protection and sustainability in the future is not only noticeable politically, but also among many people. At the same time, many requirements are placed on modern buildings. These are to be considered from the planned use just as the building code or legal requirements regarding stability, traffic safety, fire protection, heat, sound and vibration protection as well as protection against harmful influences by water, moisture, plant and animal pests or other chemical, physical or biological impairments.

With the testing of waterproofing products with regard to their effects on groundwater in accordance with building authority specifications and with the external monitoring of factory production control, we offer you the basis for applying for general building authority approval.

For the protection of our waters, we test your coating and sealing systems for catch basins, catch spaces and surfaces made of concrete in LAU plants (in plants for storing, filling and transferring liquids hazardous to water), for coatings on concrete for use in JGS plants and biogas plants as well as for coatings in fuel oil storage facilities.

In this way, we would also like to visibly demonstrate to the outside world that we, as a future-oriented company, want to fulfill the social and political desire to increasingly consider the environmental aspect with a high degree of responsibility.

The contact person and head of the working group is Dipl.-Ing (FH) Dirk Kautetzky, a long-standing employee of MFPA Leipzig GmbH, who can be reached at 0341/6582-188 or kautetzky@mfpa-leipzig.de. The new working group is additionally supported by all other approx. 120 MFPA colleagues, who are not only available with advice and support, but also with diverse testing equipment and many years of testing experience.

Material properties of historical steels of the exhibition hall 12 in Leipzig at elevated temperatures.

This is the title of a technical article published a few days ago by our engineers Susanne Reichel and Manuel Neck in close cooperation with Markus Thieme (S&P Group) in the current issue of “Stahlbau”.

The article deals with the material investigations on historic steel structures in connection with the reconstruction of exhibition hall 12 at the “Alte Messe” in Leipzig. The aim here is to upgrade the original load-bearing structure in a way that is compatible with the preservation of historical monuments, which is to be integrated into the new building being constructed.

In order to verify the stability, material tests of the steels and the riveted joints were carried out both under ambient temperature and at elevated temperatures. From the test results, calculation values for the verification were derived in analogy to the regulations of Eurocode 3.

The will to build structures from wood and other renewable and sustainable raw materials in the future is not only being felt politically, but also by many people. At the same time
many requirements are placed on modern buildings. These are to be considered from the planned use just as the building-legal and/or legal requirements regarding stability, traffic security, fire protection, heat, sound and vibration protection as well as protection against harmful influences by water, humidity, vegetable and animal pests or other chemical, physical or biological impairments.

In order to be able to make better use of our many years of experience in many areas of timber construction for our customers due to the increased demand and to develop solutions and verifications for these requirements together with the manufacturers/builders of the structures, the new working group “Timber Construction” at MFPA Leipzig GmbH will start its work on 01.01.2022. In this way, we would like to visibly demonstrate to the outside world that we, as a future-oriented company, want to fulfill the social and political desire to increasingly build with wood with a high degree of responsibility. The working group initially consists of three experienced specialists in the field of timber construction, who focus on the areas of stability & traffic safety, fire protection and building physics. From 01.03.2022, the working group will be strengthened in terms of personnel in the area of the assessment of plant and animal pests and other chemical, physical or biological impairments.

The contact person and simultaneous head of the “Timber Construction” working group is Dipl.-Ing (FH) Volker Ahnert, a long-time employee of MFPA Leipzig GmbH, who can be reached at 0341/6582151 or v.ahnert@mfpa-leipzig.de. The new working group is additionally supported by all other approx. 120 MFPA colleagues, who are available not only with advice and support, but also with a wide range of testing equipment and many years of testing experience.

We would be pleased to go down the “timber construction road” together with you.

Already on November 29, 2021, a ceremonial groundbreaking for the construction of the new fire test hall with a three-story office and seminar area took place at our fire test center in Laue near Delitzsch with the participation of high-ranking representatives of the regional development ministry, the district of North Saxony and the city of Delitzsch.

As a company, we will be investing around 4 million euros in this location over the next few months. With the construction, loaded fire tests will be possible in Laue near Delitzsch under conditions that are unique in Europe. The Lord Mayor of Delitzsch, Dr. Manfred Wilde, thanked MFPA Leipzig GmbH for the clear commitment to the location and also wished the executing company Freyler much success, far beyond the upcoming construction phase. One focus of the planned testing activities will be in the area of timber construction and composite construction, but fire protection closures, fire resistant glazing, bulkheading systems and tunnel segments will also be tested with regard to their fire behavior.

On 29.04.2022 we could celebrate the topping-out ceremony of our new fire test hall. In the last few months, a lot of earth has been moved, floor slabs and span slabs have been poured, foundations, columns and roof girders have been erected, and the office section has been constructed from precast elements. Construction work is progressing according to plan, the roof is tight and interior work has begun. The hall will be completed in the summer of 2022, so that the new furnaces can then be erected. We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone involved for their reliability!

The start of use will be at the end of 2022 / beginning of 2023.

From now on, we can also offer floor covering testing according to DIN EN ISO 9239-1 in our DAkkS-accredited laboratory.

At the newly acquired floor covering testing device (Radiant Panel), textile floor coverings, cork, wood, rubber and plastic coverings as well as coatings, for example, can be tested in our fire testing center in Laue with regard to their fire behavior.

As a notified testing and certification body, we are also happy to support you on the way to CE marking.