Lloyds Registry of Shipping
Case Study: Lloyds Registry of Shipping
Introduction
Lloyds Registry of Shipping building is a large office development in central London, designed by leading architects Richard Rogers Partnership.
The design of the building was radical and cutting edge, featuring fully glazed facades and external stair and lift cores. On these external cores, the steelwork was very visible and was an integral part of the architectural concept. However, these external glazed cores were also the primary escape routes from the upper levels of the building as well as being the main fire brigade access routes into the building.
The Challenge
Exova Warringtonfire was tasked with developing the fire strategy for the building which balanced the need for protection of these external glazed cores while not compromising the architectural design of the building.
The Solution
Stairs in the building were located in the glazed cores around the perimeter of the building, as were access points for the fire brigade. The fire safety design recommended safe evaluation procedures for occupants and also ‘fire fighting lifts’ for the use of the fire brigade. This would ensure that the fire brigade could reach the upper floors of the building without obstructing the occupants who were using the stairs to evacuate.
In addition a detailed fire engineering analysis of the core structure of the building was undertaken to determine what fire protection would be required to ensure that the structure would not fail at any time, even in the event of a severe fire in any part of the building.
The most likely place for a fire to start would be in the office area, but these were considerable distance from the main core. Separate analyses of two main fire scenarios, using fire engineering modelling techniques, was undertaken: a fire within the office area where flames could project into the core, a fire within the core itself.
It was found that even in the most severe of cases, flames from a fire in the office areas did not tend to have a large impact on the core structure and so a 30 minute fire rating was more than sufficient to ensure that the structure would not fail at any point in the fire.
The analysis of a fire in the core of the building also showed that 30 minutes fire rating to the structure would be more than adequate to ensure that the steel would not fail at any time in the fire.
The Benefits:
The strategy developed by Exova Warringtonfire ensured that a highs standard if fire safety was achieved without compromising the architectural concept of the building.
