The recent winner of the Best International High Rise Architecture Award in the UK has saved more than £5 million thanks to advice from leading fire engineering specialist,
FDS Consult UK, it was announced today. Bridge’s Wharf, the landmark South Bank building in London’s Battersea, incorporates apartments as well as commercial, hotel, restaurant and leisure facilities and the scheme scooped the accolade at the recent CNBC International Residential Property Awards. FDS was successful in overcoming the challenges associated with such a complex mix of accommodation to design and install a seamless fire strategy that saved the developer, Weston Homes Plc, £five million in floor space, construction and fire safety systems costs.
A spokesperson from Weston Homes commented: “This development reflects the very best of good practice and how different parties, with different interests, can work together to achieve something very special.”
FDS takes an innovative and scientific approach to fire engineering, which has led to the company’s track record not only for saving on material and construction costs, but also for increasing the available floor space within a structure. In addition to the savings, FDS also developed a phased occupation strategy during the building’s construction, so that hand over of apartments could be carried out from the top down, while building works continued on the lower floors.
“It’s a pleasure to be involved with an award winning scheme,” commented Andy Riley, director of FDS Consult UK. “This was a complicated project but we applied some inventive value engineered solutions to deliver the ultimate in fire safety and design assurance, whilst remaining cost-effective for Weston Homes.”
