It is great to see that a piece on the No. 1 Old Trafford submitted by our friends at Jon Matthews Architects has been published in the Architect’s Journal.

DFC was the fire engineer for the scheme from concept design through to its completion and handover. The project was completed at the end of May 2021 and delivered 354 apartments over two tall residential towers that share a Ground Floor storey and an external podium terrace.

DFC was initially involved in May 2016, providing advice and developing the fire strategy for Cole Waterhouse up to detailed design level of information. In 2019, DFC was then appointed by DOMIS to take the scheme through technical design and to provide ongoing fire engineering support through construction. Works commenced onsite circa April 2019. The project was a relevant building subject to Building Regulation 7(2) requirements. Material selection and their incorporation into the design were regarded as challenges for the project due to the infancy of Regulation 7(2) requirements being applied in practice at the time. DFC was involved in several discussions with JMA, DOMIS and Ball and Berry reviewing the various materials specified in the external wall system with the intent of achieving compliance with Regulation 7(2) and also Part B requirements.

Aside from the external wall construction, DFC became involved in reviewing the fire detection and alarm system cause and effect matrix for the scheme. Following system programming, DFC engineers attended site and led the cause and effect testing process to ensure that the fire detection and alarm system response, including ventilation activations, met the expectations of the fire strategy. Being onsite witnessing the various system activations, DFC was able to discuss operational conflicts with DOMIS and the relevant systems installers and agree any necessary programming changes. These interactions onsite really contributed to the successful handover of the project.

It was a scheme where DFC was able to provide input early doors through to seeing how desktop designs transpired onsite.

Seeing the project on the Architect’s Journal reminded us of our involvement in it. Read the journal article here.

All illustrations courtesy of Cole Waterhouse.