Client: Your Homes Newcastle - On behalf of Newcastle City Council
Main Contractor: Straightline Construction Ltd
Smoke Control Contractor: Dyer Environmental Controls Ltd
Photographs: Courtesy of Dyer Environmental Controls Ltd
As part of a major programme of refurbishment works, Your Homes Newcastle engaged Straightline Construction & Dyer Environmental Controls Ltd to undertake improvements to the smoke control systems serving a number of residential tower blocks, located around the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.
To meet the combined requirements of Approved Document B and Approved Document K, Dyer Environmental Controls selected Fieger Louvre Windows. Working closely together, Dyer and Fieger applied a bespoke solution to each building.
A total of 123 no. Fieger FLW 32 SmoTec vents were installed across 17 different buildings. Each vent comprising double-glazed louvres, using toughened and laminated glass. A geometric free area of 1.5 m2 was provided at the end of each corridor application, with 1.0 m2 for the head of stairs locations, as required by The Building Regulations.
In addition to the mandatory testing to EN 12101-2 for natural smoke vents, the FLW 32 vent is tested to BS 6180: 2011 for barrier loading, providing an additional safety feature, essential for high-rise buildings.
The vents were each fitted with D+H LDF 100-70 24V DC motors, programmed for anti-trapping, which was wired to the control system installed by Dyer Environmental Controls, using D+H Control Panels interfaced with D+H smoke detectors.
In agreement with the local Fire Brigade, Dyer included an override function, to enable use of the Positive Pressure Ventilation method in tackling a fire.
Typical overall U-values of between 1.90 and 2.2 W/m2 K were achieved, which with a class-leading low air leakage rate to Class 4 of EN 12207 provides a highly energy efficient feature of the refurbishment.
