A £312 million project for the expansion of clinical facilities and refurbishment of the A&E facilities at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is one of the first major construction contracts to make use of FIREFLY® Span, a high-performance linear joint seal ideal for helping achieve effective compartmentation in a variety of construction settings.
The work at the vital district general and teaching hospital is being led on behalf of the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospital Trust by main contractor Vinci with sector specialist architectural and building consultants, AHR leading the design team. Complete Fire Solutions (NW) meanwhile is the Manchester based specialist sub-contractor undertaking the installation of the one-hour intumescent fire seal across the whole element of the scheme.
The Site Manager for Complete Fire Solutions, Dewi Grundy, explained: “Our responsibilities on this project include executing all of the penetration seals and tasks like applying the intumescent paint protection to all of the new steels which have gone up, while I am currently also conducting a survey to see if there are any locations where we might need to install one of the FIREFLY® barrier systems. During the survey for the protection of the various construction joints in the newly built walls, the use of Span was agreed upon and subsequently installed.
There are some 350 linear metres of construction joints to be addressed across the job enabling us to utilise the 50 x 50 mm version of the product. The depth of the walls is mainly 130mm – constructed either in reinforced concrete or as plasterboard partitions – and they are all approximately four metres in height to the soffit. The FIREFLY® technical manager has been to site to deliver the appropriate training for our operatives who are carrying out the work, and he will return in due course to confirm that all the Span has been fitted correctly. The installation is quite a straightforward operation, especially with all the construction joints having been accurately formed and very regular. Overall, the work is progressing well.”
FIREFLY® Span combines flexibility of application with complete dependability, having been developed to prevent the spread of fire, smoke and even sound through construction joints in walls and floors for a full 60 minutes. The product has been tested in accordance with BS EN 1366-4, confirming the viability of its open celled polyurethane foam structure – impregnated with fire resistant chemicals and bonded with layers of intumescent graphite. On exposure to heat the intumescent material rapidly expands to seal off gaps, stopping the passage of flames or hot gases. It even offers thermal and airtightness benefits.
Crucially, FIREFLY® Span’s straightforward installation requires no adhesives or mechanical fixing, making it an ideal answer to achieving compartmentation in a variety of situations. Furthermore, Span can be used in combination with other fire protection products from the FIREFLY® range, including the company’s barrier products which are fabricated from woven and non-woven glass, designed to resist flame and smoke. The barriers are easy to install horizontally or vertically using a full selection of FIREFLY® ancillary products to ensure a fully tested and certified installed system.
James Ginty, Technical Manager for FIREFLY®, commented: “The new Span linear joint seal is ideal for protecting construction and movement or expansion joints, as well as perimeter joints and other interfaces between different building elements. Not only can it accommodate structural movement, but its ability to be compressed and then fully regain its form makes it very straightforward to install. This is a characteristic which will reassure specifiers and specialist installers that the resultant seal will achieve its design performance in line with the Building Safety Act.”
Images shown are taken during installation and some sections of the installation might be incomplete.
