Structural fire engineering was provided, among other services, (inc. compliance report) to allow unprotected existing steel structure. The smoke modelling also facilitated the unique atrium design.
This building was constructed in 1904 in the style of the Chicago school of architecture. In November 2000 the building opened as a Visitors Centre. The outstanding features of this building are the exposed steel structure, the giant pint glass atrium that stretches up from reception on the ground floor to level 6 of the building and the Gravity Bar on the top of the building.
This project required an integrated conservation risk analysis and a fire protection strategy sympathetic with the historic fabric and building features.
Innovative fire solutions included analytical structural fire engineering modelling of the existing steel structure. and the smoke management systems were designed to prevent the potential for unobstructed fire and smoke spread throughout the large volume and egress modelling to optimise the permitted occupancy levels throughout the building and in particular the Gravity Bar on the top of the building.
