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Five sectors, one common goal: SAFER BUILDINGS

Smoke control saves lives, and we’ve been designing, installing and maintaining systems for years now, using high-quality equipment manufactured from within the Adexsi Group.
But you already knew about that – pretty much every page on this website tells you the same and we like to think our reputation precedes us.
What we don’t talk too much about, however, is the industries that can benefit from these services, which are generally required by legislation. It’s not accurate to say all buildings are alike – their occupancy, their day-to-day use, their inherent fire risks, their layout and their fire escape planning are all different and unique depending on their intended use.
That means each building requires a different approach – while we brand our systems into packages (such as VeriShaft for mechanical smoke control) we understand each project will have its own nuances. We work with clients and partners across the construction industry on all sorts of buildings:
 
Residential
In many ways, residential buildings are completely unlike any other type of building and the reason is fairly obvious: permanent occupation. Where an office block or gymnasium might see high levels of transient footfall during the day, a residential apartment block will have people inside 24/7, including sleeping overnight. This means that smoke control and natural comfort ventilation protocols have to keep operating to the same levels at all hours (while respecting noise levels at night), and that the amount of time it takes a person to typically escape from a fire may be significantly higher.
It also means that the fire risks are multiplied – in a block of flats, everyone has a kitchen, and everyone has electrical appliances; virtually every room in the whole building has the potential to be the source of a blaze.
This situation takes on even more severity when you consider our work on custodial facilities, where fires are occasionally started deliberately and escape routes are understandably restricted.
We factor in these considerations when designing systems, while also keeping an eye on efficiency, energy usage and cost-effectiveness.
 
Commercial
Things like retail outlets, malls, leisure facilities and even public buildings all have high turnovers of people during the day, and often incorporate challenging architectural features such as atria. The challenge here is that escape routes can be quite long in some instances, and individuals on site might not be overly aware of the fire escape procedures.
 
Educational
In a similar way to commercial buildings, educational establishments tend to have wildly fluctuating populations and a variety of fire risks (especially where laboratories or workshops are concerned). There are also issues at schools with younger pupils regarding the speed and efficiency of fire escape procedures.
 
Health
A hospital is a challenging place to manage a fire. With many patients unable to escape of their own volition – and flammable building services such as oxygen lines to contend with – the smoke control system design and protocols need to exhibit the very greatest of care and consideration. Similar concerns are to be found in elderly care homes, also, and we work hard to ensure demanding standards of safety and hygiene are met during installation and maintenance.
 
Industrial
Manufacturing, light or heavy industrial activity is often undertaken in high-ceilinged buildings or warehouses where mezzanine effects need to be taken into account. Oftentimes simple roof-vent arrangements are sufficient (and add energy-saving natural light) but care has to be taken with fire risk assessments where there are flammable or explosive materials on site (such as gas canisters).
 
Regardless of the market in question, there’s no doubt that any major building project will need smoke control support along the way. We can design, supply, install and maintain – just call us on 0845 084 0555 to find out more.