Pressurisation Scheme and Car Park

East Side Plaza, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth

East Side Plaza is a large residential development in Central Portsmouth adjacent to the Gunwharf Quays shopping centre spread over three blocks. Working with Berkeley Homes, Colt provided a complete smoke control package to protect the accommodation and car park.

Accommodation

Pressurisation systems protect escape stairs against the ingress of smoke by maintaining the pressure within the stairs higher than that in the adjacent spaces.

Pressurisation systems were designed for two of the blocks comprising:
- air inlet terminations and ductwork with smoke detectors
- run and standby fans
- air supply grilles into the stairwells
- accommodation air relief dampers at each level in the corridor areas to allow air to escape into shafts
- ductwork to controllable Seefire louvred ventilator terminations at the top of the accommodation air relief shafts
- pressure relief dampers at the head of the stairs with controllable Seefire louvred ventilator terminations.

Colt also provided automatic opening ventilators at each storey, and the complete scheme was controlled by an OPV system.

Car Park

The car park is situated on two levels, ground level and basement. The client required a ventilation system to be designed and installed in line with the recommendations of Approved Documents B and F of the Building Regulations. The system needed to extract 6 ACH in day to day use,  and 12 ACH in a fire situation to remove heat and smoke.

A total of 8 Cyclone induction fans and 3 Jetstream impulse fans move the air from the entrance ramp towards the extract system, which was also supplied by Colt. Such fans use tunnel ventilation technology to eliminate the need for costly and bulky ductwork. This may save car-parking spaces and make the car park a lighter, less cluttered environment.

The Colt extract system comprises attenuated high temperature axial fan units.

Colt also provided a complete controls package which included addressable carbon monoxide and heat detectors. For day to day operation the system monitors the carbon monoxide levels within the car park and reduces the extract rate when levels are low to conserve energy and reduze operating costs. Emergency control is fully automatic.

Colt provided CFD modelling of the complete system and a full technical report for local authority approval prior to installation.