Southampton City Council

Introduction:

In early 2022, Harmony Fire secured our largest contract to date – a city-wide sprinkler project in collaboration with Southampton City Council. The project involved the installation of active fire sprinkler systems across eight supported living blocks and a dementia block. In addition to the sprinkler system installation, the project included integration with an alarm system, associated core drilling, builders’ works, certified fire stopping works, and all pipework boxing.

Challenges:

The project’s scale and complexity presented several challenges, including the need to work in live environments while ensuring the safety and comfort of residents. Moreover, coordinating the fire safety works required meticulous planning and coordination to meet the programme deadlines.

Solutions:

Our specialist engineers possess extensive experience working in live environments, ranging from supported living sites to mental health hospitals. Leveraging their expertise and certifications, all works were completed in line with BS 9251:2021 and other relevant standards and legislation. Our engineers were dedicated to minimising disruption to residents and care staff as much as possible, liaising with staff to work around residents’ schedules and completing out-of-hours work to alleviate any strain on staff and operations.

Here at Harmony, we adopt a proactive approach to communication. We utilise our in-house resident liaison teams, who keep residents informed about the project’s progress and address any concerns throughout the pre-construction and construction phases. Additionally, we implement stringent safety protocols to ensure the well-being of all stakeholders involved.

Outcome:

Despite the project’s complexity and challenges, we successfully executed the project. The wider contract includes works across a further 104 blocks throughout Southampton, to be completed within the next five years. In total, the project will consist of 112 blocks containing approximately 1,700 flats of mixed tenure. This project underscores both Harmony’s and Southampton Cty Council’s dedication to enhancing fire safety and maintaining 100% compliance across the city.