An iconic and
popular residential development in the West Midlands, The Landmark at Brierley
Hill, is using smoke control systems from SE Controls to ensure escape routes
are kept free of smoke in the event of a fire, allowing residents to exit the
building safely.
Located at
the Waterfront complex adjacent to the Merry Hill retail centre in Dudley, The
Landmark was formerly the HQ for a financial services company before being
acquired by investment property developer, Seven Capital, who converted it into
181 apartments with Colmore Tang Construction, all of which were sold off-plan
within five months.
The shape of
the building and its graduated tiered design, which rises from two to seven
storeys, are key features that made the new apartment development attractive to
residents, but it also presented a number of challenges during the design and engineering of the smoke control system, which needed to be addressed by SE
Controls.
The
building’s five existing stairwells were to be used for escape, but the travel
distance from some of the apartments was more than the 7.5 metres specified
within Building Regulations Approved Document B for a code compliant naturally
ventilated smoke control system.
To overcome
this, SE Controls designed and installed four individual smoke ventilation
solutions based on the specific requirements of each floor within the building,
which combines both mechanical fan and natural smoke extraction to provide an
effective and integrated life safety system.
On the ground
floor and first two levels, which have the largest floor areas and highest
density of apartments, the building uses an SE Controls SHEVTEC Extended Travel
Distance mechanical fan system. This protects the corridors and three of the
stairwells where apartments are located more than 7.5 metres from the escape
stairs.
Also, on the
second, third and fourth floors, supplementary automatic opening vents (AOV)
are provided as part of the naturally ventilated smoke control system to ensure
additional stairwells and corridors are kept free of smoke to aid escape from
apartments within 7.5 metres of the stairs.
A further
naturally ventilated system is used on floors five and six. Although these have
the smallest floor area, a further dedicated escape staircase is protected by
AOV louvres at the head of stairs.
The main escape route in the seven-storey
section of the building is also protected by a naturally ventilated smoke
system, which covers all the floors.
Using an SE
Controls OSLoop modular smoke control system and OS2 SHEVTEC controllers
together with a range of AOVs, louvres, SECO Ni 24 40 chain actuators and
mechanical fan extraction, the system is highly effective and operates as a
fully integrated solution.
Michael
Scrimshaw, Business Development Manager for SE Controls, said: “The unique
layout and structure of the building, together with its change of use from
offices to residential made it one of the more complex projects we’ve
undertaken to ensure the full system is not only compliant, but also effective.
2By fully understanding the escape paths and layout, we were able to engineer
the complete system using different smoke control technologies as a fully
integrated life safety solution dedicated to this particular building.”
