At 63m tall, Froomsgate House is the 7th tallest building in the city of Bristol, having stood since 1971 in the heart of the city’s centre.
Originally constructed as an office block and commercial space, it is undergoing a major redevelopment by main contractor Vinci with the intention of converting its 15 floors from offices into 438 bedrooms of student accommodation.
The thriving university town has a requirement for further student housing, and the central location makes this landmark building an ideal candidate. The redevelopment will also create: new ground floor shops and bars; a public square and landscaping; improvements to the facade of the building; as well as the demolition of the footbridges linking Froomsgate House to Trafalgar House and Greyfriars.
The change of use in the conversion led to a requirement to review its fire safety credentials, and it was decided that smoke control systems were needed to ensure minimal risk to the new tenants (student accommodation is one of the highest fire risks in UK building types).
Working for building services specialist HE Simm, Adexsi UK was appointed to review the existing structure and layout of the building, before recommending a VeriShaft smoke shaft solution. This system is based on the principal of installing smoke extract fans at the top of the building, drawing smoke from any potential fire up and out of the structure, away from the stairwells where students would escape and where Fire Brigade personnel would enter. The system is linked to a damper array at each floor, ensuring smoke doesn’t leak from one floor to another via an intelligent VeriCom control system.