Summary Case Study:

The Foundation Village - Parnell, Auckland

Fire Protection Systems’ Design

Key Data:

• Project value – Not Disclosed
• Retirement Village - Residential accommodation including ground floor tenancies Blind & Low Vision NZ
• Fire Protection Engineering
• Auckland, New Zealand
• Full BIM and Revit 3D Design

The Scheme:

The Foundation Village project for Generus Living Group is a retirement village being constructed in Parnell central Auckland, New Zealand. Building 1 is a 1800sqm 4 story block which is the first building of a possible 3-4. The water supplies and interfaces of Building 1 will make provisions for future connection to Building 2. As the building will house a demographic of elder age as well as Blind and Low Vision NZ tenanted on the ground floor, careful considerations need to be assessed for their safety and speed of egress when it comes to fire protection warning systems. Working closely with the fire engineer to create the best solution for the client and the tenants.

The overall objective is to ensure the precinct is looked at holistically from a fire protection and engineering perspective and ensure Building 1 has the infrastructure to service Building 2 and establish whether the surrounding water supplies are capable of supplying the whole precinct. The building will be fully compliant with the Fire Engineering Report and their relevant design standards NZS4541, NZS4512 & NZS4510.

Our Role:

The company has been appointed to carry out fire protection engineering to Building 1 working closely with the client, architects and services project design team to construct a 3D model in Revit and BIM 360 fully coordinated. From Concept Design to Detailed Design and Tender, carrying the project right through construction stages and benchmarking the installation items to ensure compliance is met.

Challenges:

The original proposal was to place a roof structure on top level 4 concrete slab, creating a void that would usually require sprinkler protection. After running the scenario past the sprinkler system certifier and deeming the space and non storage, no combustibles it was agreed that omitting sprinklers would be compliant. The client and architects then changed the roofing system to reduce the size of the void meaning the space was compliant without deviating from the standard.