In 2014, Bam Construction were successful in their acquisition of the contract to build an all-new £15 million local authority hub in the heart of Bodmin, Cornwall. Called ‘Chy Trevail’, the project aim was to collate numerous council services into a central hub to save money, be more efficient and boost the local economy. AF Protection Limited were awarded the six month contract to provide various passive fire protection systems, acoustic sealing and air sealing works throughout the building.

The first system of work installed was intumescent spray to numerous structural steel that supported fire escape walkways inside the building. Following this, all fire-rated fire walls (including escape corridors and staircases, service risers and plantrooms) required fire stopping and penetration sealing for up to 60 minutes of fire resistance. Whilst these works progressed, all remaining party walls required acoustic sealing to provide up to 34db of acoustic dampening. The works were all completed successfully with minimal issues or complications thanks to forward planning on-site by operatives and effective communication with other trades and Bam Construction.

As the project developed, there were numerous times where on-site consultations from AF Protection management were required to provide solutions to the client for unforeseen issues. An example of this was a cavity void in the eaves of the roof space plant room that passed into the office spaces below that was so far unprotected. Given the ‘hazard’ status of the plant room and the ease at which any fire could pass from the area directly into the occupied office areas, fire separation was of grave importance. A significant factor of this problem was the need for the cavity to be sealed sufficiently to provide two hours of fire resistance in an area of difficult access. A detail was devised whereby a vertically hung composite cavity fire barrier would be installed to separate the plant room from the adjacent office space as far into the eaves as possible. While installation was complex, difficult and time consuming on site, it was nevertheless completed successfully.

In the latter stages of the project, AF Protection were instructed to carry out air sealing works throughout the building in preparation for the buildings air test. This required several extensive investigation of areas where air leakage was a distinct possibility, and apply a sufficient air sealing system to close off any cavities. While the building itself was well constructed throughout the project, imperfections will always occur and less than a square metre of air travel in the entire building can fail an air test. A final air test resulted in a rating of under 4m3 which is below the “limiting air permeability” for a commercial building and passed.

Bodmin Council Offices was one of the first major projects that AF Protection undertook and while there were obstacles and hindrances on occasions (typical on all projects), it was the communication between subcontractor and client that allowed the works to progress to a successful conclusion. Subsequently, earlier this year, the Chy Trevail building was awarded a local architectural award by The Cornish Buildings Group. The structure was said to achieve “originality and a sense of distinctiveness” whilst being “highly energy efficient” (Plymouth Herald, 2016).

Sources:
http://www.cornishguardian.co.uk/bodmin-s-new-corn...
http://www.bam.co.uk/media-centre/news-details/Cor...
http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/cornwall-council-o...

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