Principal Place
Sectors
Services
Client
HPF & Multiplex
Project overview
BB7 were appointed by HPF and Multiplex to develop a fire strategy for Principal Place, an approximately £200m development.
Project scope
Where the City meets Shoreditch, with a design reflective of this, Principal Place is landmark building. The 630,000 sq. ft., 15 storey office building provides spacious floors of circa 45,000 sq. ft. and nearly an acre of roof terraces. The development also comprises of a 50-storey residential tower and an array of retail units, restaurants, and bars. Currently let to Amazon, the fortune 100 online retailer, it is a great match for such an exquisite building.
The BB7 response
At RIBA Stage 2 we supported the design team during planning, this involved understanding the project objectives and producing a planning fire strategy. This allowed the client to achieve planning and ensuring that fire design items in later stages of the project did not affect agreed planning requirements.
After producing a planning strategy BB7 developed a detailed fire strategy during RIBA Stage 3 & 4. This produced a performance specification and strategy as to how the scheme can provide compliance with Building Regulations. The document was also used for pricing purposes when going for tender on fire safety systems at RIBA Stage 4 & 5.
At the end of RIBA Stage 4 our role was to consulate with all relevant approving authorities, e.g. building control/approved inspector, fire brigade, insurer for approval of the scheme. Facilitated by several meetings, we addressed any concerns they had and co-ordinated with the design team to ensure that the design was modified to guarantee approval.
We also supported the contractor during construction, which involved updating the fire strategy during the construction period and into an “as built” at the end of the project. This was to capture any changes that occurred during construction and to form a final report for the Regulation 38 package.
Benefits of service
Due to being appointed through RIBA Stages 2 – Stage 6, we could ensure that the fire design information was implemented during construction or offer engineered solutions if issues occurred.
Our people are our best asset; due to our specialist team of CFD engineers, we were able to support the clients’ objectives of achieving challenging requirements in the form of large penthouse apartments. BB7 were able to mitigate the ambitious requests of the client and subsequently demonstrated a safe evacuation strategy for occupants in the event of a fire and observing the tenability in criteria in the CFD model.
We were also able to support the client with structural fire rating issues, by undertaking structural fire engineering analysis with specialist software to see if the fire rating could be reduced without affecting life safety. By using this unique method, we were able to enhance the customers experience and our delivery to the project by providing a cost saving to the client.
The BB7 team were recognised for their communication with the client and relevant stakeholders to ensure client objectives were fulfilled. BB7 operated on an open line approach to allow other team members to be contacted and subsequently meet the programme schedule.
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