Case Study: LJMU Redmond's Building
Named in honour of Sir John Moores, a true visionary and shrewd successful businessman, who founded in 1923, and headed until 1982, what was then the UK’s largest and most profitable privately owned company, Littlewoods.
With its roots stretching back as far as the Industrial Revolution, Liverpool John Moores University remains a prestigious player in the university league tables for the North-West of England.
Product
We installed four of our Adexon HFC120E horizontal fire curtains, which were installed across the technical office/store, the TV studio and TV Newsroom, and post-production room. These Active Fire Curtain systems were customised with a white RAL 9010 finish on the side guides, bottom bar, and headbox, to ensure it did not stand out unnecessarily against the spaces décor. We also installed a smaller Adexon-HFC120E fire curtain across the void staircase. This design was finished off with a black RAL 9005 headbox which ensured it remained aesthetically pleasing.
Result
Due to the technical and spatial requirements of the building, traditional compartmentation methods were not possible – Active Fire Curtains allowed the students and staff of LJMU the space and security to learn and develop, with the security that their lives, and the multi-million pound building would be preserved in the event of a fire outbreak.
Adexon continue their close relationship with LJMU and hope to work on a future project with them in future.
Project
Alongside Wates Construction and ADP, Adexon installed Horizontal Fire Curtain Systems, inside the Redmonds Building, a state-of-the-art home for the Schools of Business and Law and the Liverpool Screen School.[2]
Still under construction, the building was only known as ‘Mount Pleasant,’ and was planned to be home to the eminent Liverpool Screen School, which resulted in the need for increased fire and smoke protection, to limit and stop the spread of fire from the TV studios in the basement, to the large, high-capacity lecture theatres, classrooms, and the replica courtroom above them.
Challenge
The project with LJMU required a longer than usual Integrity ‘e’ rating of 240-minutes on each Fire Curtain due to the function of the rooms they were compartmentalising in case of fire.
The TV studios, technical office, and post-production room contain vast amounts of technical electrical equipment that could go on to pose a fire risk. Similarly, the recording spaces in the TV studios [3] need to be large, open plan spaces to allow them to be used flexibly for film and TV recording, which removes the possibility of traditional passive fire protection such as non-loadbearing plasterboard walls and fire doors.
As such, Fire Curtain systems offer the flexibility of space and spatial usage, while ensuring essential and adequate fire safety principles are upheld in the £38m building.
Links
[1] Liverpool John Moores University, ‘History’ 21.02.2022
[2] Quote from LJMU, ‘Redmonds Building’ 21.02.2022
