Leading fire consultancy FDS Consult UK has helped keep the design of a complex mixed use development alive, whilst meeting the safety requirements of local building regulations.
Designed by architects Squire and Partners for house builder Telford Homes, Greenwich Creekside comprises of four ultra-modern buildings ranging from eight to seventeen storeys high. Part of a major development in Greenwich, it is set to form a cultural hub that will be home to luxury residential apartments alongside artists’ studios, shops, bars, offices and more.
Squire and Partners and Telford Homes were keen to utilise wide open atrium spaces. With this came the challenge of creating a safe, efficient and easy to implement fire strategy that would offer occupants maximum life safety. FDS Consult UK met the challenge.
The company designed an innovative solution that provided effective escape routes, whilst maintaining the open floor plans throughout the buildings. Although this escape route solution deviated from the layout and systems proposed by the guidance documents, it superseded the safety requirements it was designed to provide, therefore delivering Squire and Partners and Telford Homes a solution that would enable them to maintain the development’s original vision.
Part of FDS Consult UK’s strategy included the resolution of extended travel distances in both residential and commercial spaces. To achieve this, the company used extensive CFD modelling to demonstrate that its solution would meet all requirements.
With every project FDS Consult UK aims to maximise value engineering and offer clients cost savings and build efficiencies. At Greenwich Creekside, FDS Consult UK’s solution enabled the removal of sprinklers from the basement, the reduction of required compartmentation between ground floor and underground car park and the elimination of the need for costly ventilation in lobby.
Part of FDS Consult UK’s strategy included the resolution of extended travel distances in both residential and commercial spaces. To achieve this the company used extensive CFD modelling to demonstrate that its solution would meet all requirements. The result was the removal of a number of staircases throughout the scheme which offered significant cost savings.
FDS Consult UK aims to maximise value engineering and offer clients cost savings and build efficiencies. At Greenwich Creekside, FDS Consult UK’s value engineered solution enabled the removal of sprinklers from the basement, the reduction of required compartmentation between ground floor and underground car park and the elimination of the need for costly ventilation in the lobby. The company also rationalised the schemes smoke venting requirements.
As part of the project FDS Consult UKs’s team of expert fire engineers worked closely with Squire and Partners, Telford Homes and the regulatory authorities to agree the proposed designs. Basing its fire safety designs on the “first principles” of fire engineering and committed to an extensive programme of groundbreaking research and development, FDS Consult UK was able to masterplan an innovative, cost efficient and – most importantly – safe system to the requirements of planners and regulators alike.
