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Fire strategy Westfi eld´s three-storey galleria proved challenging for fi re engineers


The size and range of Westfi eld Stratford City presents a number of challenges for emergency escape, fi refi ghter access and crowd management. In this case, strict compliance with standard building regulations guidance would not have given the optimum solution either for design or safety. Therefore, fi re engineering was needed to develop an effi cient and safe building. Jeremy Gardner Associates (JGA) has extensive retail expertise having worked on many of the largest shopping centres in the UK.


Smoke control In shopping centres the mall is the primary escape route. Smoke-control systems are provided in the mall to maintain a clear layer to assist escape and aid fi refi ghting operations. The most effi cient solution is to allow smoke to fl ow into the mall and extract it from smoke reservoirs formed in the roof. While a common solution in single- and two-storey malls, the greater quantities of smoke produced by three storeys, such as Stratford City, would render a smoke-control system in the roof ineffective.


1. Thermal models of fi re spread 2 & 3. Smoke-channeling screens plan


Smoke reservoirs Conventional models could not adequately model smoke movement patterns in the mall so a series of 3D computer-based models were built to allow in-depth smoke movement analysis. The results were compared against recognised tenability criteria to demonstrate that the system met the design objectives for safety. The computational fl uid dynamics smoke modelling allowed the number of reservoirs in the roof to be reduced by half – to four reservoirs. This meant fewer glazed cross-mall smoke reservoir screens and mechanical smoke-extract plants were needed; this was not only effi cient in terms of costs but


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