Fire Compartmentation and Fire Damper Servicing and Remedials in North West London

What was the brief/client expectations?

Having had a Fire Risk Assessment carried out which identified many fire compartmentation issues, we were asked to carry out a comprehensive and intrusive survey of the school to establish:

Status of the fire compartmentation along the specified fire walls to report on the breaches in the building infrastructure i.e., cables, pipes and ducting penetrations.
Report on the location, status and condition of the horizontal and vertical fire dampers.

Were there any challenges and how did you overcome them?

As with all fire compartmentation projects, the work was carried out at height and above the false ceilings. In many cases the work areas were restricted and difficult to operate in.
We established that several dampers shown on the building drawings were not installed and therefore new horizontal and vertical dampers had to be fitted into the walls and floors. This involved removing existing ducting, installing dampers into the walls and floors, and then reinstating the ducting.

What makes this project unlike any others?

Unfortunately, we come across these issues in many of the schools, colleges, hospitals, hotels, and commercial buildings. In most cases, these only get picked up when Fire Risk Assessments (FRA) or building inspections are carried out.

How long did this project take?

The project to carry out the surveys and resolve the fire compartmentation issues using fire stopping materials, install the fire dampers and inspect, clean and test over 120 dampers took circa. 2 months to complete.