Coopers Fire protect important regeneration project for the city centre. Fire curtains installed to protect lifts and escalators
what was the client looking for?
The WestQuay Watermark building is a new leisure complex in Southampton, UK that offers restaurants, cinemas and retail. The £85 million build was completed early this year (2017) and was constructed by the main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine. The striking building is based on a design of a ship.
Southampton City Council said the “bold and innovative” building was an “important regeneration project for the city centre”. The design includes upper and lower walkways with restaurants and cafes and a 10-screen cinema and bowling alley set above.
Due to the open plan design of the building, the requirement for lifts and the linking of floors with escalators, fire curtains were required in order to satisfy the fire regulations.
HOW DID WE HELP?
Coopers Fire installed six fire curtains in a variety of sizes throughout the building. Fire curtains with smoke control were installed over lift openings to prevent the spread of fire and smoke through the lift shaft.
Large fire curtains were installed over two floors surrounding the escalators. In this application the fire curtains offer protected means of escape and are set on a split drop delay meaning smoke is prevented from reaching other floors as the curtains partially deploy for a period of time. The FireMaster fire curtains used in this instance are also rated for smoke control (BS EN 1634-3).
BENEFITS
The fire curtains used on this project are all approved to BS 8524-1 and were installed to the requirements of BS 8524-2. The result of this is the client is satisfied the fire curtain products used are third party approved, are rigoursly tested and installed by trained and approved installers.
Coopers Fire are Independently Third Party Certified for Product Testing and Installation. Coopers Fire manufacture fire curtains that are recognised as the modern alternative to firewalls, fire doors and glazing, giving designers the freedom to design modern, open plan spaces without compromising fire safety. They are increasingly specified by designers as a solution for open plan designs.
