FM-Approved Fire Escape Corridor

Background

Gaiger Brothers, a Devon-based facilities management company, approached Stancold to refurbish fire escape corridor walls for their small electronics manufacturing client in Chippenham.

With an increasing volume of visitors on site, the end user’s priority was to refresh the look and feel of the area while ensuring the parameters remained compliant with their insurer, FM Global.

Process

Our client, a more traditional construction company, had never previously worked with composite panels, providing us with a great opportunity to showcase our expertise and guide them through the specification. We started with a thorough site visit to ensure all parties understood the regulations, specifications and agreed on the scope of works.

The main project challenges included:

• Keeping cleanrooms partially operational throughout the refurbishment
• Introducing composite panel systems to a contractor unfamiliar with the specification
• Working within an existing steel frame structure while maintaining Building Regulations compliance for corridor width

Project Delivery

During the pre-construction stage, our team value-engineered a solution that allowed the client to keep cleanrooms partially operational while leaving the bespoke interior envelope and doors intact.

The complexity of the build required a thorough brief for the installation team. With the cleanroom walls built on a steel frame, Stancold’s experts selected an unusual 75mm panel thickness that allowed installation using the existing structures while keeping the corridor width compliant with Building Regulations.

Stancold completed installation of the 50-metre-long L-shaped wall, including two sets of personnel doors, in under 10 days. Crucially, the nature of composite panel construction allowed the fire escape route to remain serviceable outside of the immediate work areas, maintaining full safety compliance throughout the refurbishment and ensuring minimal impact on the client’s day-to-day operations.