During the construction of a building, it is a legal requirement to have a reliable fire safety procedure in place, such as fire protective barriers that are compliant with government regulations. But, as so many buildings are now constructed as open plan – both for convenience and architectural design, more traditional methods of fire safety are quite often no longer viable: they disrupt the flow of the design with intrusive additions such as firewalls, fire doors and glazing.
That’s why Coopers Fire have developed and honed their flexible, adaptive and protective fire protective barriers, bespoke designed to seamlessly blend in with contemporary design, whilst fully compliant with UL, BS and EN standards.
Coopers Fire’s fire protective barriers are particularly effective, due to the formation of E-glass woven lattice, meaning they are extremely robust and fire retardant, in addition to the added benefits of being malleable, so they can be hidden and camouflaged into modern design.
There are several different types of fire protective barriers, these are:
Used for modern, open plan designs where the curtains can be hidden in the ceiling until needed. Vertical fire curtains are particularly used in stairways.
Horizontal fire curtains are popular with tall building with multiple floors, sealing the floors from further fire spread.
Circular fire curtains which segregate certain high-risk areas, without the use of corners or posts that would otherwise obstruct the area.
Domestic fire protection enables homeowners to protect their houses whilst enjoying the benefits of open plan living.
These curtains provide a walk-through corridor to allow easy access to exit points. They are ably adapted to a number of configurations – remaining hidden until deployed by Cooper’s Total Gravity Fail Safe (TGFS) System with controlled descent and variable speed.
At the first signs of a fire or smoke, these curtains are automatically deployed from their positions, and, due to their successful design implementation – they can compartmentalise the spread of both fire and smoke, providing a clear evacuation route whilst protecting the integral structure of the building for up to four hours.
Depending on the type of protection required, a decision is reached through discussion, assessment and Coopers Fire expert advice as to which is the safest, yet the least intrusive method of fire protection.
Just recently, Coopers Fire installed six curtains into one of the largest commercial developments in the south of England, WestQuay Watermark. Having opened in December 2016, this £85 million leisure complex, owned by Hammerson with the main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine, holds a number of restaurants, bars, a bowling alley and a 10 screen cinema.
The design also included an open plan food hall, with upper and lower walkways – which required a bespoke solution to satisfy the fire regulations for the capacity and exposed kitchen areas. The curtains installed included concertinas to segregate the escalators, in order to protect the spread of fire to the lift shaft. The others protected large areas of the floors, providing escape routes – having been set to deploy in sequence so as to prevent smoke from reaching other floors and putting lives at risk.
At Coopers Fire, we have a commitment to the safety of all lives involved in the work we do and take great care and pride over providing internationally renowned safety solutions to protect against the threat of fire.
Throughout our company’s work, this commitment has inspired us to develop and create our wide range of fire safety products we now provide for our clients. With a wealth of industry knowledge and expertise, we have honed our approach to fit every need, from escalators and doors to open plan spaces and lobbies. To take a closer look at the work we have done, please click here to view our case studies in full.
Our service does not end after installation – as the UK’s sole smoke and fire curtain manufacturer to be received and approved by an independent third party accreditation, Coopers Fire’s expertly trained team of engineers are perfectly placed to assist with any maintenance issues, should they arise. We know that ensuring your fire protective barriers are operating to their full potential is hugely important to the safety and legality of commercial use – that’s why we regularly conduct servicing on all fire and smoke curtains we install.
If you are interested in how Coopers Fire could take care of all things fire safety related for your building, whether it be for commercial or domestic use – our inclusive range of options, coupled with an expert opinion and engineers experienced in all different types of installation can put your mind at ease in light of the threat of a fire outbreak.
We are more than happy to supply CAD drawing of all proposed installations, giving you an idea of how our designs would work with your space. To get in contact, please call 02392 454 405 or email info@cooperfire.co.uk.
