One New Change
Client
Sidell Gibson Partnership LLP
Project overview
BB7 were commissioned by Sidell Gibson Partnership LLP to develop the fire strategy for One New Change, with involvement from RIBA stage 2 onwards.
Project scope
One New Change is a major office and retail development in the city of London, adjacent to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It comprises of 20,000 m² of retail space and 31,000 m² of office space, costing £500million to build and completing in October 2010.
The BB7 response
The BB7 Team worked on this development from concept stage to completion over a period of 4 years. Fire Engineering tools were used to justify deviations from the standard codes of practice. BB7 utilised Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to demonstrate compliance with legislation for numerous elements of the design including an open arcade area, and issues arising from an open light well and radiated heat. The team also completed the “As built” fire strategy for the building and completed fire risk assessments at the premises.
Benefits of service
As BB7 were appointed early, it enabled the team to make the most efficient contribution towards the design. Projects work well from a Fire Engineering perspective when we are appointed early. Being appointed early enables us to make the most positive contribution we can to the design. The concept of the covered mall in the UK shopping experience is well established although this does present a number of fire safety challenges for the designer to ensure escape routes are maintained for a potentially large number of occupants who whilst are awake, are likely to be unfamiliar with their surroundings. It is well established that people in large spaces surrounded by large numbers of other people take a little longer to respond to an alarm signal due to a false sense of security created by their surroundings. However within shopping malls there is usually a large fire load and numerous sources of ignition and thus the opportunity for a fire to develop rapidly beyond the expectations of the occupancy is there.
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