The Oldway Centre in Swansea has been a familiar fixture on the city’s landscape since it was first built in the early 1960s. The former 13-storey office block is now being converted into modern student accommodation to support the growth of Swansea and Trinity St David Universities.
Once complete, the refurbished building, which includes a two-storey extension to the old high street side office block, will provide 556 student bedrooms alongside communal facilities for collaborative working and socialising. This switch from commercial to residential use called for an increase in the fire resistance of the structure’s floors from 30 to 120 minutes. Often, a combination of passive fire protection boards and sprays can be used to achieve this higher performance. However, the historic design of the Oldway Centre posed its own challenges for the Promat team. Promat worked closely with main contractor, WRW Construction, and installation subcontractor, Sharpfibre, throughout the scheme to develop a passive fire protection solution that would both meet the requirements of the technically challenging build, and protect and provide quality of life for residents.
THE DESIGN CHALLENGES:
Deliver 120 minutes of fire resistance • Identify a fire protection solution that could be easily applied to the Oldway Centre’s coffered slab floors – featuring a series of ribbed and concave sections which meant that rigid protection materials could not be applied • Bespoke specification needed for the building floors which varied in thickness, calling for different levels of spray protection
THE CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGES:
Meet the tight construction timetable to ensure that the Oldway Centre could be reopened in time for the 2019 academic term • Install the passive fire protection in a timely manner ahead of the scheduled installation of bathroom pods manufactured offsite • Identify a sustainable installation solution to meet the strict environmental requirements for the scheme • Ensure a clean interface between the spray and the head tracks of the building’s partitions to create a smooth finish with the internal drylining system
THE INSTALLATION PHASE
To meet the project’s fire protection requirements and its design and construction challenges, Promat specified CAFCO® CP2. This cementitious spray is quick to apply with the right expertise.
120 minutes
Fire resistance achieved using CAFCO® CP2
2 floors per week
Application rate to support the project’s tight build schedule and modular construction, allowing for the installation of the new bathroom pods.
18,000m2
Of CAFCO® CP2 applied across the project, providing peace of mind for building users and saving the equivalent of 18,750 fire protection boards
