1272Z – Fire Test Centre

 

 

DESIGN AND ACCESS STATEMENT

NEW FIRE TEST FACILITY GREENFIELD BUSINESS PARK

For

KINGSPAN

Prepared By:

Bruce W. Jones RIBA DPS Architects Ltd,

The Westlands, 132 Compton Road, Wolverhampton.

WV3 9QB

Dated: 9th March 2018

DP SARCHITECTS

1272Z – Kingspan Fire Test Facility

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Introduction

This Design and Access Statement has been prepared to accompany an application

for a new development on the NW corner of Kingspan’s site at Holywell.

A Pre App was submitted to Flintshire County Council on 29th September 2017 and a

detailed response received on 21st December 2017.

The key issues were:

• Highways. Justification for departure from parking standards

• Public Protection. Air Quality Assessment required

• Flood risk. Site within C1. FRA required

This statement and the application documents address these issues.

Key features of the scheme are:

• A unique facility for the region

• A positive use of a key employment site

• Complimentary relationship with adjacent production and storage buildings

The site is located within a Principal Employment Area as defined by policy EM3 of

the UDP allowing B1, B2 and B8 uses.

Client

The building is to be used as a Fire Technology Centre. Its purpose is to carry out the

necessary fire testing and characterisation of Kingspan’s products for conformity

assessment to all National Regulations and European harmonised Product

Standards. This fully functioning Fire Technology Centre will aid Kingspan in

developing and testing products which will limit fire spread and meet loss prevention

standards of technical integrity and performance. Kingspan prides itself in being a

market leader when it comes to new and innovative products. A key feature of

construction products are the strict fire approvals new and existing products must

conform to, the Fire Technology Centre will give Kingspan the ability to carry out it’s

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own indicative product testing onsite rather than using third parties in England and

mainland Europe, thus creating job opportunities in the local area.

Kingspan’s site ownership totals 37 acres and encompasses large production line

bays with offices and amenities. Schedule of floor areas are:

Line 1 & 2 9414 sq.m

Line 3 5688 sq.m

Line 4 8091 sq.m

Cold Store 2237 sq.m

General Storage 4103 sq.m

Offices 1100 sq.m

Reception/Showroom 2000 sq.m

Canteen/Amenities 300 sq.m

General Sample Area 2876 sq.m

Ancillary Offices 1050 sq.m

Total 36,859 sq.m

The new facility totals 1306 sq.m gross internal area.

Design

• Use

Testing of building panels for fire integrity and stability. B2 Use.

Panels are delivered to the Fire Lab and offloaded by an internal crane then

carried to an elevated rig structure where it is up ended to the vertical and

attached ready for testing. The height of the main Burn Hall structure is

required to allow heat to rise and be extracted out. Residual particles

resulting after the test are filtered out and extracted via the main flue stack.

The heights are consistent with other similar facilities such as the BRE in

Watford. Elevations, Plans and Sections are attached to this Pre App to give

an idea of scale.

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• Layout

The building is to be sited away from the main buildings and circulation routes

but is easily accessible for forklifts and HGV’s as it is sited alongside the main

central access road. There is no alteration to highway or pedestrian access

routes.

• Scale

The building has three visual heights:

Offices and main lab 11m to ridge

Burn Hall Area 18m to ridge

Flue Stack 27m

Environmental

• Parking Relaxation Request

The site presently has 275 car spaces primarily located around the office building to

the south of the site adjacent to the main rail line. Although parking standards dictate

that an additional 25 spaces are required for this proposal based on floor space,

however the present level of parking can adequately support the daily population.

The site works on a 3 shift pattern which totals 180 office based staff Monday to

Friday with a manufacturing total of 60 per shift Monday to Friday and 40 on Sundays.

The new facility will attract 4 new staff. The use of this facility will be intermittent.

• Flood Risk

A Flood Risk Assessment has been prepared by Waterco consultants.

The executive summary acknowledges the obvious risk of total flood from the Dee

Estuary and that the site does not comply with current advice contained in the

Planning Policy of Wales. The entire site, totalling around 14.5 ha, lies at generally

the same level and employs a considerable amount of local people, hence in our

view the benefits of this small development on an existing Principal Employment site

outweigh the risk.