FP McCann Supply and Install Precast Concrete Building at Hampshire Live Fire Training Site.

Project: Live fire training facility. Eastleigh, Hampshire.

Client: Hampshire and Isle of Wright Fire and Rescue Services.

Main Contractor: Morgan Sindall.

Precast Concrete Structural Installation: FP McCann.

Products Supplied: Precast Concrete Internal and External Walls; Floor Slabs; Stair Flights
and Landings; Precast Ring Beam and Capping Slab.

FP McCann has completed a supply and installation package involving the construction of a specialist precast concrete live fire training facility at Eastleigh in Hampshire. The 120sq.m building will provide a live onsite fire training Centre, significant in the provision of fire fighter training within Hampshire and its surrounding areas.

The training facility will be one of a very few of its kind in operation and presents vital experience to trainees as they tackle controlled fire situations whilst experiencing realistic after-effects and complications under supervision.

The Eastleigh project is just one of three Hampshire fire station contracts secured by Morgan Sindall as part of a £22.5 million package of investment by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) to help restore and improve fire and rescue facilities in the region. Morgan Sindall, was selected by HIWFRS through the Southern Construction Framework (SCF) to deliver the projects which includes Bishop’s Waltham Community Fire Station, Cosham Fire Station in Portsmouth and the Live Fire Training Facility at their headquarters in Eastleigh.

The three-storey building contains multiple rooms for specific training exercises, with one room in particular having a raised stage area to demonstrate the seriousness of fire flashovers. In the initial design, the stage was to be of brickwork once FP McCann’s precast rooms were in place, however on consultation with FP McCann’s engineering team, the designers opted for a precast ring beam and capping slab to reduce construction time.

Manufactured at FP McCann’s Byley plant in Cheshire, 120 individual precast units have been supplied and installed over a 15 day period by FP McCann’s sub-contract fixing team. The 46 External Wall panels and 43 Internal Wall panels all measure 150mm thick, with 31 Floor Slab units of varying thicknesses to suit different fire training rooms, all of which will be subject to varying degrees of temperature. Additional to the precast concrete walls and floors are 8 no. precast stair flights and 3 no. precast landings.

The internal precast walls are to be clad with fire-retardant tiles. As a combined walling/flooring system, fire will be retained in the individual room spaces as the non-combustibility and fire resilience of precast concrete itself has been demonstrated through extensive controlled testing in conjunction with Ulster University and the Fire Protection Association.

The offsite manufacturing of the precast rooms has reduced the carbon footprint; this being much lower than that associated with the transportation of multiple materials to site in a traditional on-site build. Morgan Sindall is employing its own ‘CarboniCa’, an in-house developed digital tool to track and reduce carbon output on its projects.

Although the Eastleigh live fire training facility is a bespoke design, simple and standardised replication of the steel reinforced precast concrete wall and roof slab panels will allow for speed of construction and consistency in build quality on any future like-for-like structures.

Speaking on behalf of Morgan Sindall, Owen Bush, Site Manager, says, “Utilising offsite manufactured precast products on this unique project has had major benefits in terms of productivity and site safety. To build such a structure using steel formwork and pouring of wet concrete would take days allowing for curing between each floor level”. Additionally, the proven fire resilience of precast concrete gives us the confidence that we have put in place a building that will be fit for its specific purpose for many years”.

For further information on FP McCann’s specialist solutions, contact the team at LITTLEPORT 01353 861416 | sales@fpmccann.co.uk