Dudley residents stay safe with SE Controls

Smoke control systems from SE Controls have you been used in a popular residential development in the West Midlands, ensuring escape routes will remain free of smoke in the event of a fire.

Situated at the Waterfront Complex near Dudley’s Merry Hill shopping centre, at the 181-strong Landmark apartments. 

Residents would have found key features such as the shape of the building and its graduated tiered design, which rises from two to seven storeys attractive, but they also posed challenges that needed addressing.

The travel distance from some of the apartments was over the 7.5 metres specified within Building Regulations Approved Document B for a code compliant naturally ventilated smoke control system in the building’s existing stairwells, needed for an escape route.

This circumstance led to SE Controls designing and installing four individual smoke ventilation solutions based on the specific requirements of each floor within the building.

These combine both mechanical fan and natural smoke extraction, providing an effective and integrated life safety system.

The ground floor and first two levels contain the largest floor areas and highest density of apartments; here, the building uses an SE Controls SHEVTEC Extended Travel Distance mechanical fan system.

This protects the corridors and three of the stairwells where apartments are located more than 7.5 metres from the escape stairs.

The second, third and fourth floors also feature supplementary automatic opening vents (AOV) as part of the naturally ventilated smoke control system.

Floors five and six have a further naturally ventilated system. Despite having the smallest floor area, these have a further dedicated escape staircase is protected by AOV louvres at the top of stairs.

A naturally ventilated smoke system, which covers all the floors, now also protects the main escape route in the seven-storey section of the building.

Business Development Manager at SE Controls, Michael Scrimshaw, commented: “The unique layout and structure of the building, together with its change of use from offices to residential made it one of the more complex projects we’ve undertaken.

“By fully understanding the escape paths and layout, we were able to engineer the complete system using different smoke control technologies as a fully integrated life safety solution dedicated to this particular building.”

Contact:

SE Controls,
Lancaster House,
Wellington Crescent,
Fradley Park,
Lichfield,
Staffordshire,
WS13 8RZ

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