Overview
Kier was founded in 1928 to provide infrastructure and construction across the UK, with sustainability being one of their main purposes. With a commitment to communities, Kier create construction projects and infrastructure. The project Kier assigned to Global was for the Winchester College Sports & Leisure building, which consists of a sports hall, swimming pool and leisure facilities.
Brief –
GTS were appointed to do scrutineer works at Winchester College Sports & Leisure after an enquiry was raised by Kier on a site visit.
Situation
Kier had specific requirements on what was required for the fire scrutineer completing this project, such as carrying out fire stopping works on the passive fire protection and installing fire doors. For this project, a third-party fire scrutineer was also required to sign off drawings for the fire strategy and to undertake random site inspections during the construction process so that the quality of work could be monitored. GTS were tasked with checking the use of materials and the products, which are shown by certification, testing or assessment to have the appropriate fire performance.
Challenges –
One challenge in this project was that detailing to the gapping from the substrate to the frame had not yet been completed by another company during the time of installation. With this being incomplete, it affected the work in which Global were carrying out.
Solution
For the scrutineering works, random site inspections took place to monitor the quality of work throughout the project. This was to ensure that the quality of work was monitored during the entirety of the process so that the works completed were high quality. The team carried out visual inspections, which included a site walk as a part of the survey. In addition to this, a comprehensive survey was carried out with the fire strategy drawings, with assumptions made based on the knowledge of the firestopping materials used at the site. Through conducting this survey, there was the aim of investigating compartmentation to ensure that any non-compliance or breaches were identified.
GTS also produced a technical note document which contained a description of the project, along with a detailed account of any non-compliant fire stopping works and advice on how this can be rectified. For example, the team identified that the intumescent paint areas needed to be remediated prior to the ceiling and void closures and advised that remedial work should be carried out in accordance with the manufacturer’s technical guidance and to document this to ensure that records are updated.
The scrutineering works saved on future remediation costs because the site was made to be safe and compliant for fire and life safety through the completion of the works.
Results –
- Compliance for fire and life safety
- Site inspections to monitor the quality of the work
Overview
Through completing fire scrutineer works, Global were able to carry out fire stopping works to create compliance at Winchester College and ensured that the work had the appropriate fire performance for the building.
