Stylish Safe Solutions For Prestigious London Homes

Komfort provides a safe and stylish solution for prestigious East London homes. Rising out of the post-Olympics dust, just a stone’s throw from Stratford, stand two new additions to the East London skyline. Pioneer Point is a residential development of two prestigious towers providing more than 250 serviced apartments in the heart of Ilford, with extraordinary views of the City of London skyline. The new residential blocks deliver state of the art design combined with modern urban living within an up and coming suburb of the city. However, with so many residential units across the towers, fire and evacuation safety was paramount. With very specific requirements, the specialist Architectural Glass Division of Komfort, was brought in to deliver the solution to help Pioneer Point maintain a safe, but stylish answer to an age-old problem. Komfort’s initial contract was for the design, manufacture and installation of 50 fully glazed 60/60 fire rated screens with single doors installed in the stairwells of the 25 storey South and 33 storey North Towers. The Komfort 5000 Series thermally broken steel framed system was fitted with 29mm thick ‘Contraflam’ fire insulation glass throughout. The Contraflam glass has a layer of gel between the double-glazing that provides 60 minutes of structural integrity and 60 minutes of insulation, which effectively keeps the glass cool and the structure in place to make sure that, in the event of an evacuation, residents can exit safely. White diffusa laminate was also incorporated within the glass to give it a translucent effect, and create a defined space between the stairwell and residential areas of the building. Due to the success of this installation, Komfort obtained a further contract variation to install additional screens and doors providing the same level of fire protection performance to the lower level common use floors, in particular the Concierge area, which provides 24-hour assistance and security to residents. Other onsite amenities include a gym, along with units that have been prepared for retail and restaurants opening shortly after completion. As part of the overall design element, Komfort highlighted the need to fire protect the curtain wall mullions where there was an intersection with the fire screens. To protect this vulnerable interface with the glass firescreen system, Komfort used its knowledge and expertise to provide a design solution to the client and, with the added wisdom of the Warrington Fire Research department, a fire protected mullion was created to ensure the cladding between the Komfort fire screen and the curtain wall was fire-safety approved. Due to the large number of glass panels used on this project, their substantial size and onsite restrictions a team of specialist glass movers had to manually transport all 300 panes to the appropriate level. The fire screens were then fitted by a second team of specialist installers across the 33 and 25 storey towers in two phases to suit the contractor’s programme. Stuart Howe, Komfort’s technical sales manager said: “It is essential that fire prevention in contemporary residential dwellings are seriously considered. Komfort was able to provide a safe, modern design solution for the client. This is certainly an outstanding project achievement given the site access restrictions and the large glass panels to be lifted, which makes this Komfort installation unique.” Aside from being an architectural beacon of the East London skyline, the towers have provided redevelopment to the area by creating jobs and by providing a landmark to put Ilford on the map. Built on the site of an old market, the towers and future retail areas will help regenerate the Ilford area following the 2012 games.

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