Pyroguard UK Ltd

An existing 1970s office building in Hilversum has been transformed into the new headquarters of de Alliantie, a Dutch housing company. Large parts of the internal walls and concrete floors have been removed to create a spectacular four-storey void, which is the new heart of the Alliantie building, connecting the different departments. Pyroguard Protect bespoke toughened fire glass was used in Forster steel doors and partitions to provide 60 minutes of fire resistance, with 1B1 impact classification and strong acoustic performance.

With glass playing a crucial part in the building's design, it provided a practical way of delivering adequate fire protection, making Pyroguard Integrity Plus ideal for the project. With EW-classification, the solution protects against flames, smoke and radiant heat for between 30 and 120 minutes, while also providing additional radiant heat control to deliver greater fire protection. The structural integrity of the product further ensures it can be handled and installed in the most challenging applications, including Biomedicum’s beautiful glass atrium.

Blavatnik School of Government recently opened its new building, designed by the acclaimed architecture practice Herzog & de Meuron. The building contains a stunning open forum, around which teaching spaces are located, ensuring that natural light reaches into the lecture theatres. Dividing walls made of clear glass and internal mini courtyards with sky lights help bring in natural light to the work and study spaces, making it a warm, comfortable and open environment. Pyroguard Infinity, a butt joint solution providing integrity and heat insulation was installed in the forum, providing excellent light transmission, strong acoustic performance and a stunning visual appearance.

Located in Nancy city centre, the Centre Prouvé is a cutting edge conference venue. Designed by Architect Marc Barani, the building flows out from a central hub and offers a range of city views from its meeting spaces, foyers, and panoramic reception area. The Smokeguard solution was installed at Centre Prouvé. Smokeguard is a glass smoke barrier system which can keep toxic fumes at bay long enough to allow members of the public to exit the building safely, minimising the risk of smoke inhalation, injury and death.

The Challenge - Made up largely of two 19th century coal warehouses, the site needed to be drastically re-thought to evolve into a new retail complex comprising of more than 50 shops and restaurants. With high levels of footfall anticipated, the safety of individuals would need to be a primary factor in its redesign. As well as this, creating light-filled spaces to attract shoppers from across London would be integral to the project’s long-term success. As a result, specifying materials capable of balancing safety requirements alongside aesthetics and practicality was critical.

With fire safety being critical in modern construction projects, WeWorks developed and implemented a new fire safety strategy before renovating the existing building. As part of this strategy, the decision was taken to replace a fully-glazed non-fire-rated internal atrium with a new, high-performance fire-rated solution to ensure the highest levels of fire protection. Spanning five storeys, the atrium would create a functional yet architecturally stunning light-filled centrepiece within the modern office space.

The Taj Group of Hotels is India’s biggest chain of luxury hotels and is part of the Tata Group, India’s biggest business conglomerate. Vivanta by Taj Dwarka is a luxury 5 star hotel in close proximity to Delhi International airport. Pyroguard Integrity Plus bespoke toughened fire glass was installed in screens and doors to enclose the lift lobby, where radiation control (EW) glazing was required to protect the lifts in case of fire. The steel frames were fabricated and installed by Pacific Fire Controls.

A leading UK water company refurbished its headquarters in Warrington, which included a full office fit-out and building a staff gymnasium. The project utilised glass in the new gym as light transmission was a priority. Arkoni, a fabricator based in West Yorkshire worked with Pyroguard to deliver a clean cut glass screen without the unsightly black edges often found on other fire glass screens. The glass chosen for the gym was the EI30 INT fire glass in a butt joint format, offering the clean almost invisible joints similar to standard non fire rated screens.

Halliday Clark designed a new dining and sports facility at Lodge Park Academy in Corby. Pyroguard Rapide, a cuttable range of fire glass, was specified for the glazed screens between the restaurant and sports areas to help make a visual link between sport and healthy eating and achieve 30 minutes of radiation control (EW classification). Extensive test evidence for Pyroguard Rapide has allowed decorative vinyl graphics to be applied to the known fire risk side, which highlights the versatility of Pyroguard.

Pyroguard provided expert technical guidance to cater for the project’s constraints of working within a listed building and more than 300m2 of Pyroguard toughened glass, including Integrity Plus T EW30/6, Rapide Plus EI30/EI60 and Protect T-EI60, was chosen for its unrivalled quality and safety features. Protecting against flames, smoke and radiant heat, the selected glazing range has the advantage of providing Marr College with additional radiant heat control and greater fire protection. In tests this glass demonstrates the ability to maintain the amount of radiant heat to below 15 kW/m2 on the unexposed face, protecting critical evacuation routes for occupants.

Silverburn shopping centre is a state of the art shopping mall. As part of the fire and smoke strategy, smoke control systems were required. The challenge was to install a system which would be non-intrusive to the aesthetics of the centre. Smokeguard is suspended from brackets concealed in the ceiling void making it almost invisible in application, which maintains the architectural lines as dictated by the client and the designer alike. The system requires zero maintenance and has no maximum lifespan, and has been extensively tested to the rigors of the EN testing schedule.

Pyroguard FireDoor 60 has been installed throughout a new hospitality suite at Silverstone, the UK’s flagship racing circuit. Specified as vision panels for fire doors, the slim 7mm profile of Pyroguard FireDoor 60 enabled CGI International glazing partner, Waller Glazing Services, to cut the product on-site and ultimately drive efficiencies with the site programme. Installed as vision panels in over 50 doors throughout the new hospitality suite, Waller Glazing Services value engineered the original fire glass specification with Pyroguard FireDoor 60 – to achieve time, cost and labour savings as compared with the 11mm product usually specified for 60 minute applications.

As a multinational business and leading employer within the region, the telecommunications giant was keen to lead the way in India’s fire safety standards, equipping its employees with both a comfortable and safe working environment. At the heart of this mission was the challenge of balancing the practical everyday needs of employees with the safety standards required of modern offices. In solving that challenge, Pyroguard – together with local partners, Pacific Fire Controls – was able to play an integral role by providing fire-rated safety glass specifically for the project.

The Oxford Academy is a £33 million flagship Academy project delivered by main contractor, Willmott Dixon. Commissioned by Oxfordshire County Council, the new educational facility is designed to accommodate up to 1,050 secondary students and approximately 400 sixth form pupils –including a 150-place specialist sports academy. Pyroguard glazing partner, Fireglass UK, completed the installation of over 60m2 of Pyroguard EI 30 INT and EI 60 INT into timber fire rated screens throughout the school building.