BALUSTRADING AT 9 LONDON FIRE STATIONS IS NEARING COMPLETION!
Posted on 18th March 2016Delta Balustrades provided systems for nine new build fire stations in greater London as part of a £45 million PFI (Private Finance Initiative) programme delivered for the London Fire Brigade.
The project was awarded to Blue3, a consortium including Kier and Infrastructure Fund Manager (DIF) as 50% co-investors. The project saw replacement and major improvements to the fire stations at Dagenham, Dockhead, Leytonstone, Mitcham, Old Kent Road, Orpington, Plaistow, Purley and Shadwell.
Following completion, Kier is responsible for management of the facilities for a 25-year period, so a robust specification with a long service life was a high priority during the design and build scheme.
Each fire station was designed with a front of house staircase, and either one or two back of house staircases. The front of house stairs for each building were specified with Delta Balustrades’ Mono system in stainless steel with glass infill panels.
For the back of house stairs, the same Mono stainless steel handrails and supports were installed with powder-coated perforated steel panels. Where viewing balconies were incorporated into the design, the combination of stainless steel Mono handrails and supports with powder coated perforated steel infill panels was used.
The project was divided into two phases with Delta Balustrades working across four sites in phase one and a further five in phase two.
For the schemes in phase one the Delta team completed a site survey following structural completion and installed the full balustrade system shortly before handover.
For phase two, however, the company took a more flexible approach in line with revisions put forward by the main contractor. For these five projects, the site survey was carried out following completion of the concrete frame and hand rails, and supports were installed to avoid the need for temporary scaffolding and handrails. The infill panels were then added as part of the final fix.