Fire Safety at Lanhydrock
Lanhydrock

By: Paul Holden
Added: 10 March 2013

Using our Fire Risk Assessment of 2007 as a starting point a schedule of works was pulled together with the aim of making Lanhydrock one of the most fire resistant heritage attractions in the country. Paul Holden, House and Collections and Project Manager said 'This was an exciting a groundbreaking project however we had a huge head-start as the Victorians had the foresight to install passive fire protection measures, such as concrete ceilings and iron structural framework, after a disastrous fire in 1881'.

Building on these historic features ten separate vertical fire compartments have been established within the mansion in order to prevent any potential fire spreading throughout the building. Lift shafts and safe means of escape were protected by the installation of new fire doors and by sealing all gaps behind existing door architraves fire spread was contained within compartment boundaries. Furthermore, service breaches between floors and compartments were sealed using either intumescing fire products or solid masonry, a new intelligent fire alarm system was installed with relevant interfaces, such as, paging and gas detection, electrical distribution systems were isolated from the mansion and full as built records have been compiled by our architects.

Paul Holden adds 'One of the great achievements of the project was completing this work without damage to the grade 1 listed fabric. We worked very closely with our architects, consultants and fire specialists in order to support our direct labour who expertly executed the works. It was a great team effort. To add to this our new fire doors won an award for design and great interest has been shown by those in the heritage sector'.