Over 100 fire door sets surveyed and certified in luxury Chelsea Barracks development
At a glance
- The 1,400 square metre, twin penthouse redevelopment of London’s Chelsea Barracks needed multiple, comprehensive fire door surveys to ensure fire safety compliance
- Timescales were extremely tight; subcontractor More Contract’s handover deadline allowed no time for delay or error
- The survey was highly complex, with many different types, designs and installations of fire door sets in the building, composed of numerous different materials
- More Contracts turned to Commercial Fire Protection, a certified fire protection company, to carry out the survey thoroughly and reliably
- The survey was delivered ahead of handover deadline and within budget, with the subcontractor describing Commercial Fire Protection’s methods of working as “perfect.”
The client
More Contract is an interior fit-out and refurbishment company. Its specialists work alongside its clients’ conceptual designers, interior designers, architects, engineers, project management consultants and planners to deliver new spaces on time, on quality, and on cost.
The challenge
Refurbishing the old Chelsea Barracks in west London to create two new luxury penthouse apartments for owner Qatari Diar brought with it some complex challenges on the fire protection front.
One of these was the fire door surveys that had to be carried out to ensure fire protection compliance in line with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The building was a veritable hive of different types of fire door solutions – glazed, unglazed, single, double, hinged, non-hinged, wood, metal, with some connected to fire protection systems and others not.
Several of the door sets were also located in common or communal areas that were subject to multiple types and degrees of fire risk. The lobby area, for example, also contained lifts and kitchen facilities in addition to its communal areas, creating a combined-risk scenario that Commercial Fire Protection’s fire door surveyors had to examine in particular detail.
In all, there were well over 100 fire door sets to be surveyed, over two floors, in a property of 1,400 square metres, to an extremely tight schedule, with no room for delay or error.
And because the project was so extensive, the survey had to be carried out in four separate phases, necessitating tightly coordinated project management.
The solution
More Contract’s Design Director, Selman Tabak, commissioned the fire door survey specialists at Commercial Fire Protection to take care of the complexities of the survey work in a compressed timescale.
On every fire door set in the development, the Commercial Fire Protection team carried out comprehensive surveys to BM Trada’s Q-Mark Scheme fire door checklist standard. This comprised detailed condition checks of each door set’s leaves, edges, hinges, frames, gaps and seals, amongst many others.
Every door set was subjected to over 30 different checks by the team, with a pass necessary for each check in order for the door set to be certified legally compliant.
In addition, the team also photographed the tested elements of every door set, to evidence their condition and their compliance with regulatory requirements.
On-site and off, Commercial Fire Protection managed the workflow and logistics of the surveys on the client’s behalf, ensuring that experts qualified to carry out and certify the work were available on the days and at the times agreed, and arrived punctually.
Outcomes and results
The Commercial Fire Protection team delivered the complete fire door survey and all associated reporting and certification within timescale and to budget. This ensured the building’s fire door sets – a vital element in passive fire protection and fire compartmentation – were up to the job expected of them.
Working with the team was also refreshingly smooth and straightforward, Selman says.
“Despite the fact that the variety of fire door types meant that it was not a particularly easy job for the surveyor,” he comments, “the team went out of their way to help, making space in their very busy schedule at short notice to complete the work.”
“Communication, both with us and within the team itself was also strong,” he remarks, “which meant we never had to chase them for anything. That was perfect for us!”
“Commercial Fire Protection really care about customer satisfaction and the end result.”
And that result was certainly positive; no objections from the building control authorities, producing an optimum outcome for More Contract, and another satisfied customer for Commercial Fire Protection.
For more information on how our team can help you ensure your fire door sets are in good repair and legally compliant, protecting occupants against the spread of fire, smoke, and hot gases, and enabling them to reach safety, get in touch on:
T: 0800 059 0113 E: hello@commercialfireprotection.co.uk
