Fire Engineering : Case Studies : University College London

University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies

University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies (UCL SSEES) is an academic building in central London designed by Short and Associates. warringtonfire was commissioned to prepare a fire strategy for the building. This report has been prepared to detail the fire engineering strategy that was developed for the building. The building was designed to fit within a site bounded by two existing buildings used by the University. The building consists of the following areas:

Academic offices and teaching facilities on the upper levels

Library on the lower levels and basement

Service/access road to the loading bay of the adjacent building at ground floor

Atrium linking all floors

The building was designed to be naturally ventilated in line with targets for reducing CO2 emissions and life cycle costs. This resulted in a number of large shafts rising through the building. The building will be used for academic research and as a student resource centre. The main aspects of the fire strategy were:

Means of escape analysis for the new building and its effect on the surrounding buildings

CFD smoke flow analysis for the basement area and large ventilation well at the front of the building

In-depth external fire spread analysis

The fire strategy was developed in close liaison with the Building Control authority, the fire brigade and all members of the design team. There was also input from the proposed insurers of the building, in particular due to the collection of rare books which are to be stored in the library area of the building.

A fire engineered approach was taken to the design of the building. This was based on an overall assessment of the fire risks both to the occupants of the building and to the books and other materials to be stored in the library, and close liaison with the designers and client to ensure that the design achieved the objectives of the client, maintained the architectural concept and minimized the cost. The fire strategy for the new building also had to take account of the effect of the existing surrounding buildings. The escape strategy for the new building had to make provision for the occupants of the two existing building who had previously had access to escape routes via the site of the new building. The client was also concerned about the risk of fire spread from one of the adjacent buildings which was considered to be a high risk due to some of the activities undertaken. There was also a desire to maintain free air paths through the building to allow the natural ventilation system to maintain comfortable environmental conditions.

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