Harbour Central is a development in London’s docklands comprising of 642 private apartments divided across seven residential blocks. A leisure complex will include a ‘Resident’s Club’ with a library, concierge, gym, spa, business suites and cinema. The development also includes 238 social rented / shared ownership homes.
Using the traditional methods to firestop pipe penetrations through concrete slab – whether by using wooden boxes or shuttering before breaking or diamond coring the concrete slabs after the concrete is poured – are time and labour intensive.
The other concerns for traditional methods of fire stopping HDPE soil and waste stacks are:
• Materials are bought and stored for creating formwork. i.e. plywood needs to be bought, stored, cut, fixed and maintained until the mechanical sub-contractor can install the pipework. This is an additional on-site cost
• Openings must be covered during the construction process prior to installing the pipework to avoid health and safety issues with falling objects or trip hazards
• Working at height may be required to create formwork around pipes prior to backfilling.
• When backfilling mortar may need to be mixed on site and this involves a certain amount of manual handling including barrels, buckets etc.