Believed to be the world’s tallest modular building Tide Construction’s Enclave residential development at College Road Croydon has needed to put fire safety as a top priority.
The interconnecting twin towers, reaching 35 and 50 storeys which top out at 158m high, constitute one of the world’s largest co-living schemes providing over 900 residences. The volumetric construction has focussed around central columns to which the modular units have been connected to deliver 817 co-living and 120 affordable homes.
Keeping the residents safe is a smoke ventilation system designed and installed by Orion Contract Services, which centres on 200+no S60 smoke evacuation dampers designed and manufactured by Gilberts Blackpool.
The smoke shafts make use of the central columns to efficiently remove noxious fumes from the building should a fire break out. Gilberts’ EN12101-8 and EN1366-10 compliant S60 units have been strategically fitted on every floor to contain and channel the smoke, delivering up to 120 minutes’ fire integrity.
In the event of a fire, a powered motor triggers the units on the fire floor to open, and the S60 units on all other floors to failsafe close to contain the smoke within the riser and protect the other storeys.
Orion Contract Services managing director Craig Edwards explains,
“In such a tall residential building, fire safety is paramount. Gilberts dampers are my product of choice. They are fully certified, easy to install and well priced. They tick all the boxes for me.”
The S60 and its counterpart S61 range of smoke evacuation dampers builds on Gilberts’ 60+ years’ heritage of bringing to market advanced technology that enhances the design, installation, energy efficiency and occupier comfort of non- domestic buildings.
All Gilberts’ products – standard lines and bespoke solutions – are designed, developed, manufactured and tested in accordance with BS EN ISO 9001:2015 quality standard in the company’s state of the art 140,000 ft² facility in Blackpool.