One Nine Elms Tower, London

One Nine Elms Tower is a skyscraper under construction in Nine Elms (London). This 58-storey building comprises a 200 bed five-star luxury hotel, retail space, offices and 491 residential apartments. This project is part of a wider redevelopment programme of the Nine Elms area of London and will replace the Market Towers, two towers built in the 1970’s.

For this type of public buildings, passive fire protection was obviously a main concern, and the design of the HVAC systems had to be made according to these constraints, and in compliance with the fire regulations in force.

This is why the project was originally specified with a traditional stone wool insulation solution.  In order to provide a fire protection solution that also offers other key benefits for HVAC insulation, the ISOVER UK team came up with U PROTECT®, which is easier to install and therefore offers the customer savings in terms of installation.

A number of technical meetings with the specifier and duct manufacturer were required to confirm product installation compliance with EN1366, and duct design compliance, as well as to address some on-site technical challenges and product availability.

Passive Fire Protection and easy to install: challenges accepted!

Fire Protection: EN1366

Made from ULTIMATE™, our light stone wool, U PROTECT® offers optimal fire protection and is up to 50% lighter compared to traditional stone wool insulation solutions.

The U PROTECT® system has been tested under EN1366-1 and EN1366-8 and assessed against BS476:Pt 24. It offers up to 2 hours passive fire protection in HVAC ventilation and smoke extract ducts as well as 1 hour passive fire protection for kitchen ducts.

On-site productivity increased

For the ductwork manufacturer and installer L.C Insulation Services, the lightweight U PROTECT® slabs ensured ease of handling and installation which were key advantages over the insulation system initially specified.

To help the ductwork manufacturer adapt some of the initial design details, product demonstration and on-site training were provided by the ISOVER team.

A close collaboration between ISOVER and all the stakeholders

Engagement with the preferred distributor was another challenge. The branch servicing the site is small and unable to stock enough product to meet the ongoing site schedule. Meetings with the distributor and ISOVER UK supply chain team identified a number of ways to support the distributor, ensuring a smooth supply to site.

As a result,  more than 15,000m² of U Protect Slab 4.0 ALU1 and associated accessories are now in use in the One Nine Elms Tower.