FIREFLY® Barriers create compartments protecting Kent care home
Davie Court Care Home, in Sheerness, on Isle of Sheppey, Kent – is the latest in a series of properties to be upgraded using FIREFLY® barrier systems, in partnership with PiLON, one of its accredited installers based in the South-east.
The four-month contract at Davie Court, a three-storey property built in the seventies with places for 38 one-bedroom flats, is being carried out by Bracknell based PiLON: an award-winning specialist contractor which has been active in the social house sector since 2004. To date, 10 of PiLON’s operatives have undergone training in the installation of the FIREFLY® systems manufacturer’s purpose-built facility in Rochdale, as it has grown to serve more clients in the sector.
The site manager for PiLON, Gabriel Predescu, commented: “As a multi-disciplinary, principal contractor, we specialise in the maintenance and refurbishment of assets owned and managed by social housing providers, establishing a strong reputation as a reliable partner. We operate across London, the South-East and the Midlands and are currently contracted with eight of the G15 Housing Associations. The company covers many specialist disciplines including electrical, kitchen and bathrooms, while also carrying out a lot of fire stopping and other fire upgrades. This includes work for Southern Housing. To carry out this work we have had a lot of our operatives undergo annual training with FIREFLY® and we are an approved installer for their systems. Here, it was the client which specified the use of Zeus and Collaroll along with the company’s adhesives and other materials, while we also had on-site support from FIREFLY® Technical Manager, Andy Greenwood. Progress has been good with the Zeus being very straightforward to cut and install using the adhesive and steel angles. Then, as well as the fire barriers, we are also replacing all of the fire doors and communal doors – more than 20 in total.”
Andy Greenwood, Technical Sales Manager for FIREFLY®, added: “In this instance PiLON used the Zeus Lite Vertical to create compartmentation with a number of ‘protected zones’ which requires that every 20 metres you must either insert a cavity closer or form a protected zone to prevent fire spreading. While as an experienced contractor the company was able to work off previously supplied technical drawings – rather than requiring site specific details – we have carried out several site visits to confirm the barriers were installed to specification. As a preferred installer, the company very much found a niche in the market and has expanded its work since switching to using the FIREFLY® range.”
Manufactured from woven and non-woven glass, the FIREFLY® range is designed to optimise resistance to flame and smoke, as well as offer heat protection in a wide range of scenarios. The barriers are easy to install horizontally or vertically using a full selection of FIREFLY® ancillary products in order to ensure a fully tested and certified installed system. FIREFLY® Zeus Lite Vertical 90:30 is a lightweight non-rigid fire barrier designed to provide fire compartmentation of larger concealed spaces and voids within buildings, offering 90 minutes integrity and 30 minutes Insulation. It has been specifically designed and tested for vertical applications.