FIREFLY® Products Protecting Britain’s Premier Glasshouse Business

Located in the East of Kent, Thanet Earth is the UK’s leading producer of salad vegetables, where an estimated 400 million tomatoes and 30 million cucumbers are grown every year: with the initial processing and packaging being carried out in a facility where 900m²of the roof structure has had its fire protection upgraded using products from the range of FIREFLY^®.

The specialist contractor involved, Kent based C A Fire Protection, is a regular user of FIREFLY^® and called in the manufacturer’s local Technical Sales Manager for advice when it was invited to tender for the challenging retrofit project.  Following a detailed site inspection and discussions with the client’s FM team, FIREFLY^® Zeus Horizontal and FIREFLY^® Titan Lite was specified in combination with FIREFLY^® Collaroll and FIREFLY^® Penowrap to offer continuous 60 minute and 90 minute protection across the soffit, which features numerous down-stands and building services installations. 

With the ceiling structure to the packaging plant unable to support heavy equipment, C A Fire Protection was forced to repeatedly erect and take down alloy access towers, as their team worked around the cable trays and other obstructions, necessitating a 13-week programme.  In general, the installation method for the FIREFLY^® Zeus Horizontal and FIREFLY^® Titan Lite saw the experienced operatives assembling frames of the 50 x 50mm metal angle, beneath which the flexible fire barrier was fixed using a 80 x 1mm flat strap, along with FIREFLY‘s High Temperature Adhesive and Stainless Steel Staples.  The FIREFLY^® Penowrap and FIREFLY^® Collaroll were employed to ensure continuity around roof beams as well as the hangers for the cable trays and other services. 

The Contracts Manager for C A Fire Protection, Steven Halkett, commented: “We undertake work right across the country, though a lot of it is concentrated in London and Kent where we have offices.  The sectors we cover include commercial, residential, airports, schools, hospitals and other public buildings.”

“Our use of FIREFLY^® systems has increased a lot over the past couple of years and we sought the company’s advice when we were assessing the work to be done at Thanet Earth, where a lack of insulation in the roof had led to condensation problems and deterioration of the original fire barriers.  We subsequently won the contract to remove all of the old, brittle material and to install the FIREFLY^® Zeus Horizontal and other materials.  We were grateful for the  help that we received from FIREFLY’s technical personnel, including the provision of specific details and inspections as the work progressed. Subsequently, the job was completed according to schedule.”     

The lightweight and flexible FIREFLY^® Penowrap has been developed to compliment other FIREFLY^® fire barrier systems and can be used to fully protect structural members as much as 300mm below the main barrier, offering additional protection.  It provides 60 minutes integrity and 60 minutes insulation when used to wrap around exposed sections of timber or steel during the construction or upgrade of a building.

Tested to BS 476 Parts 20 & 22, FIREFLY^® Penowrap is manufactured utilising a layer of non-woven silica with aluminium foil on the outward facing surface.  The product, which is non-toxic as well as easy to cut and shape, has additionally received a Pass for Parts 6 & 7 (propagation and surface spread of flame).  The 300mm wide fire wrap is supplied in 10 linear metre long rolls, and is just 12mm thick.  Furthermore, it only weighs 2.02kg/m² so it is light to handle on site.  FIREFLY^® Penowrap is installed using standard fixings and is fully compatible with the angles and high temperature adhesives to be found within the approved FIREFLY^® range.