News Article

The project: Newfoundland is a spectacular 60-storey residential skyscraper housing 636 decadent apartments at the western end of the Canary Wharf Estate in London Docklands.

The site: The site is bounded by Westferry Road to the west, Middle Dock to the east and Bank Street to the south and to add to the challenges of the site, the Jubilee Line runs directly beneath the site.

The building: Newfoundland is, because of the narrow footprint and diagonal street layout, a slim diamond shapes 220m tower with sloped, sculpted sides. The project required the fire protection contractor to work at height in very exposed conditions including applying fire protection systems to the outside the boundary of the building at great height.

The Solution: as well as providing and installing fire stopping products throughout the building’s 636 apartments, the contract also required applying fire protection to the building’s structural steels. Sharpfibre’s solution was innovative: once the steels were protected with Fire-Tek they remained exposed to the London weather until the building was fully clad. Sharpfibre’s solution was to apply a self-sticking, breathable water-resisting membrane – Wraptite – a product more commonly used for providing an airtight barrier – to protect the exposed steels. This ability to think outside the box and provide an inventive solution was key to Sharpfibre’s winning the ASFP award.

Cost-effective solutions: the ASFP Award’s judging panel were impressed at how Sharpfibre offered cost effective but efficient solutions and ran the project on time, on budget.

Sharpfibre is an award-winning fire protection contractor based in Essex, servicing projects across the UK and beyond. Since its establishment in 1987, the firm has built up the expertise and experience to deliver complete passive fire protection packages, completed to the highest standards of quality and safety, within budget and on time.