Inside Housing reported on the fire and the subsequent discovery about the building’s construction, stating that the hotel was ‘constructed offsite, out of modules formed from plastic insulated panels’, with the 106 bed hotel ‘completely destroyed’ and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service investigating. Documents available online have shown that the hotel was built in 2013 from structural insulated panels (SIPs) by contractor McAleer & Rushe and developer Sip Building Systems (SBS).
The panels were ‘built into fully furnished hotel rooms’ in a factory in Northern Ireland by subcontractor Sipfit Ltd, before ‘being shipped to the Shetlands and assembled on site’. A video promoting the project described the construction method as ‘a first for a hotel of this size’, with the insulated panels ‘used as the main structural component’ for the building – and are made from combustible polyurethane insulation between two sheets of oriented strand board.
This is made from compressed wood flakes, and were given a Class 3 rating for surface spread of flames on a certificate from the British Board of Agrement (BBA), which is ‘only one notch above the worst rating’ of Class 4, and considered a ‘high risk’ rating by Scottish building guidance. Despite this, the certificate stated: ‘With adequate protection, panels used in external walls and separating walls will meet the required fire resistance periods given in the relevant national building regulations.’
Inside Housing added that fire resistance is however ‘a different rating from surface spread of flame’, though ‘there is no suggestion that the building was constructed against regulations’. The hotel was also due to close at the end of August, after the gas operator that was using it – Shetland Gas Plant - ‘did not renew its contract’, while it was owned by BDL (Shetland) Ltd ‘mainly to provide accommodation’ for the gas plant staff.
A McAleer & Rushe spokesperson stated: ‘It was with sadness that we learned of the fire at the Moorfield Hotel and we welcome that all guests and staff members are safe. We have provided the fire authority with the contract documentation and all compliance certificates relating to the project which was completed in 2013.’
Neither SBS nor Sipfit Ltd responded to requests for comment, while BDL director Stuart McCaffer commented: ‘There will be a full investigation to identify the cause but it would appear that the fire safety systems have worked early to identify the outbreak of fire and evacuate the hotel. We are grateful to the firefighters for their response.’