Berth 46-47 at Southampton Docks is the new location for the fourth cruise terminal adjacent to the Ocean Dock and will be capable of handling ships with a capacity of 4,000 passengers and will therefore comfortably accommodate the largest cruise vessels afloat. This multi million pound investment will establish Southampton as being recognised as the cruise capital of Northern Europe, with well over 900,000 passengers in 2008 and includes such high-profile calls as those for the naming of P&O’s Ventura and Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas.
High profile projects generally require high quality products and this scheme was no exception. An aggressive marine environment coupled with all structural steelwork remaining visible meant that the right products had to be selected based on performance whilst also meeting Mansell’s strict budget constraints. Sharpfibre were approached early on to offer a number of solutions to satisfy the fire protection criteria. Issues with interfacing between the thermal insulation boards fixed to the floor slab and the application of the intumescent paint fire protection to the structural steel beams meant that one element had to change. Sharpfibre’s proposal was simple, remove the intumescent paint application to the structural steel beams and replace with an application of cementitious material. This allowed the design team to overcome the issue of cold bridging created by having to create a void around the structural steel beams to allow the expansion of the intumescent paint in the event of a fire. These voids would have meant the thermal insulation thickness would need to increase by 10% to achieve the desired thermal performance.
Coupled to this early involvement, Sharpfibre also carried out extensive on site trials in advance of installation works meaning the construction and design team were able to approve both the physical properties and final appearance of the products proposed and therefore mitigate the potential of any delays.
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Berth 46-47, Southampton Docks
