Since completion in April 2015, One West Regent Street in central Glasgow has attracted office and restaurant occupiers.
Engineering firm Weir Group PLC, media organisation Global and professional services company Arup took the first occupation of four office floors and the restaurant and café chain Giraffe, has also completed its fit out and is the first retail and leisure operator to occupy.
Although One West Regent Street was considered a conventional build in construction terms, the development site is in the central core, next to Buchanan Street shopping area, which proved a challenge in terms of access. Fire Protection Group (FPG), who were responsible for the design, commission and installation of the site’s fire detection and alarms (FD&A) said that there were a number of practicalities to overcome.
Stuart Scott, Regional Director, Scotland for FPG said: “The building was on a very tight site in the middle of the city centre with limited access points and no storage for materials. One of the biggest challenges was that initially the main method of transporting materials up and down the stairs was via a hoist – however, the hoist was removed early on since the builder closed off the level 1 of the building upwards. This meant that all materials had to be manually transported from ground level by operatives. Despite the fact that this impacted on the amount of time it took to complete the installation we still met all of the deadlines and the system is now up and performing seamlessly, in line with the client’s requirements.”
The product used was the Gent by Honeywell Vigilon FD&A system including the company’s D1 voice alarm. More than 600 devices were installed in total around the building, including Gent’s S-Quad multi sensors and detectors, with EN54-23 compliant visual alarm devices.
The system was selected to protect the property and individual businesses. The layout comprises of a double height reception and open plan floor plates that are virtually column free, ranging from 12,818 to 13,702 square foot. The site also includes a parking area with 40 car park spaces and 54 cycle spaces, so the detectors had to be multi use to cope.
Scott said: “The best solution for the building was a system that could provide early and accurate detection, such as the multi-sensor S-Quad technologies that Gent provides. The S-Quad devices installed are multifunctional, combining a multi-sensor, speech, sounder and visual alarm into one device – so they can also cut down on the number of overall devices in the building.”
FPG has been an Elite Gent Approved System Integrator for more than ten years, which enables the company to supply, commission and maintain Gent by Honeywell fire systems. The company, based in Linlithgow, Lothian, operates around the UK from offices in London, the Midlands, the North West and Scotland.
About the site
The first significant Grade A office building to be constructed in Glasgow’s city centre for more than five years, it was developed by Clearbell, with M&G Real Estate. It comprises 143,000 square foot of office and retail space over eleven levels, providing a welcome boost to the city’s commercial property market. The £60m One West Regent Street development has EPC ‘A’ and BREEAM ‘Very Good’ ratings expected.
Visit www.gent.co.uk.
