Hospital building frame

The challenge

A new hospital wing was built around an exposed steel frame, with 60 minutes of fire resistance required on every column and beam. Spraying intumescent on site would have put a wet, weather-dependent trade on the critical path, right where the façade and building services teams needed to start.

Our approach

We took over the fire protection from the fabricator’s yard. The fire engineer’s schedule listed more than 900 members, each with a thickness based on its section factor. We loaded that list into our planning, so every beam left the hall labelled with its measured thickness. Cellular beams got extra attention around the openings, where steel heats up faster. Deliveries followed the erection sequence floor by floor, so nothing sat waiting on site.

The result

The frame went up without fire-protection scaffolding or curing time on site. Only the bolted connections needed touch-up after erection, which our team handled in two short site visits.