Drapers Gardens is a 75m tall development with 16 floors, three roof terraces and a pocket park, boasting over 270,000 square feet (25,000 m²) of floor area. Located in the heart of the City of London, Drapers Gardens replaced what was the tallest building demolition to be carried out in the UK.
Main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine began work on the construction of the new building in 2008, inviting Sharpfibre to tender for the Structural Fire Protection works package. Following off the back of previous high rise fire protection projects carried out, Sharpfibre’s solution was to mechanically apply Grace MONOKOTE® MK-6HY cementitious fire spray to the structural steelwork. Working from one static position in the lower floors, Sharpfibre hydraulically pumped the spray applied coatings contained within the building by a specialist heat retaining encapsulation system. Such was the success of this works package, that Sir Robert McAlpine approached Sharpfibre to provide the Fire Stopping and Penetration Sealing requirements throughout the entire building.
Working in close partnership with the architect and the construction team, Sharpfibre was able to develop a solution for every service opening and penetration in an attempt to prevent unnecessary remedial works caused by late design changes or alterations in the services. Where design changes were expected or anticipated, temporary fire protection solutions were adopted to allow works to be commissioned and completed, with the final fire protection systems installed just prior to the buildings handover in Autumn 2009.
