Public/complex buildings Manchester Town Hall will seek to enable
public events such as civic ceremonies, weddings, exhibitions and guided tours, while also providing open public access to all entrances and through the lower levels. In addition to the life safety risks to building occupants (staff and visitors), it is important to consider property and asset protection goals in the design. Within the context of Manchester Town Hall, this focuses on three main areas:
1. The building – Manchester Town Hall is a Grade I listed building, which represents a key asset to the city of Manchester and could not be replaced.
2. Assets on public display – assets including both portable and non portable items will be located around the building and in specific exhibition spaces. In all instances, an understanding of the value of the assets and specific areas where portable assets may be located need accounting for within the fire engineering design.
3. Storage of portable assets – where assets are stored temporarily or permanently in the building, minimum provisions for their protection from fire need to be considered in the context of the value of the assets to be stored.
Returning to the life safety strategy for the building, this article will now focus on the proposed fire safety systems and features for the redevelopment, against the backdrop of the existing heritage provisions.
Means of escape
Means of escape provisions for the hall are still substantially based on the original fire strategy, comprising open stairs connecting all nine levels. This is at odds with current expectations for fire rated escape routes at such heights and, indeed for this reason, prior to the closure earlier this year to facilitate redevelopments, a substantial number of restrictions were in place relating to use. One of the main drivers for the redevelopment
is inclusive accessible access to all parts of the building. In achieving this, step free access is being provided at the main entrances with onward lift access to all floors. This provided a great opportunity to combine modern accessible provisions with modern egress provisions. The proposed fire engineering strategy is
therefore to provide a complete overhaul to the provisions for means of escape, and in doing so, provide four new fire rated escape stairs interwoven with the fabric of the existing building. These four protected escape routes will also double as firefighting access routes, with three being full firefighting shafts (incorporating a fire rated stair, firefighting lift and protected lobby), whilst the fourth is a lobby protected stair due to building constraints, making lift provision in this location impractical. This coordinated design approach – which
tackles both accessibility and fire safety issues simultaneously – results in substantially improved means of escape, whilst firefighting access facilities are also measurably improved. The main
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www.frmjournal.com JULY/AUGUST 2018
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