Tag: suspended ceilings

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Mezzanine Floor Fire Protection

Post author By manager
Post date April 12, 2016

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Mezzanine floor fire protection is the most important task to determine correctly when considering a mezzanine floor, old or new. When a new mezzanine floor is installed by us we always liaise with Building Control to ensure that the correct level of fire protection is carried out on the steel structure. You may think that steel is pretty strong which it is, but in a fire the steel will tend to twist and deform at not very high temperatures and there are several reasons for this.

The effects of fire on a steel mezzanine floor structure

The steel sections that are used in the construction are in themselves very strong but will have been formed from flat sheet steel and either rolled or welded to form the sizes required. Heat on steel anneals or softens the steel which wants to convert to its pre-stressed state. The effect of this is that the whole floor structure twists and due to the weight of the floor, what is on the floor and the steel the whole lot can come crashing down quickly.

All of our steel structures are calculated, and often have triangulation steels in the corners of the floor to prevent twisting in just loading conditions, so the design needs to be calculated properly.

Mezzanine floor fire protection – Suspended Ceilings

Contrary to popular belief and pure incompetence by many of our competitors there are actually very few suspended ceiling types that are fully tested with a specific suspended ceiling tile to give the 1 hour fire protection required by Building Regulations. Some mezzanine floors which are small in proportion to a building and maybe are just used for occasional light storage may not actually require any protection as there is actually no perceived danger to employees and staff. 99% of floors will need mezzanine floor fire protection.

There are a few advantages of using a suspended ceiling over a plasterboard one, the main one is you can hide the services inside it. It is also a finished product without the need for skimming or painting. It can also provide sound performance preventing noise from the ground floor going through the floor. It is also quick to install.

We visit many installations carried out by others where the cheapest ceiling tile has been used, and the cheapest grid, and there is absolutely no way that the suspended ceiling is fire rated and we have to advise the customer of this fact.

Mezzanine floor fire protection other items.

There are many other things that need to be considered but that is perhaps for another article, if you are in any doubt please give us a call and we can check.

What else needs to be done to a Mezzanine Floor once built?

Cre8tive Interiors can carry out all of the work required so that the client can just use the space straight away. This will include the following:

Initial design and layouts for the new space along with costs
Building Regulation Approval
Planning for the work to be done, understanding what needs to be carried out prior to the install date.
Supply and Installation of the mezzanine floor, including relevant fire protection
Electrical work
Partitioning and suspended ceiling work
All lighting, emergency lighting, air conditioning and ventilation
Construction of any toilet areas, canteen or warehouse areas
All types of flooring and decoration.
Office furniture if the extension is for offices.

What Mezzanine floor projects has Cre8tive carried out?

Tags Building Control, building regulations, mezzanine floor, mezzanine floor fire protection, suspended ceilings

All Project Categories Suspended Ceilings

Suspended Ceiling in Chippenham

Post author By manager
Post date November 22, 2015

Client: Chippenham Accident Repair Centre
Value: £1.5k

The project was quite a small suspended ceiling to install and was an important part of the refurbishment project for the customer. The customers contacted us primarily to construct a new suspended ceiling as quickly as possible. After looking at the space on a Friday and turning around a quotation quickly within the day, we were able to fit this ceiling during the follow week.

There are many different types of suspended ceiling, the type used in many shops and some offices consist of a metal frame with plasterboard underneath. Please read this page if you would like to read a bit more about ceilings. In this particular project unfortunately some materials were damaged and we had to get replacements quickly but in the end the customer was very pleased. The main reason why the customer wanted one done was to hide all of the services that needed to be brought through, such as electrical, voice and data as well as air conditioning pipework. The other benefit of fitting this ceiling was that it gives good sound absorption to the space beneath it.

View showing the cuts around the edge of the new ceiling

Main grid had to stay open to allow the electrician to get cables in

Air conditioning pipes also had to go in.

We used a very rigid plain white tile which is designed with acoustic properties in mind. The electricians who came after us really liked the tile as they were very tough, without marking when you take them in and out of the grid. We use this tile quite a bit in all of our projects.

Completed Suspended ceiling.

These photos show our work finished, but there were lots of other activities that were carried out after we had left. One of the problems with fitting the suspended ceiling was that a general builder had built the stud partition walls and they were not square, so each cut around the outside edges of the ceiling was different.

Grid and tiles fitted in the hallway

Spaces left for the lights

Suspended Ceiling Projects

There are many different types of suspended ceilings and the range of tiles now can be quite baffling. The current trend is to focus on sound performance within the office and this can be dealt with by using a special tile.

Suspended ceilings are used for a number of reasons, they are quick to install and mean that all the services required for offices such as pipework for plumbing and air conditioning, as well as power and data can be hidden out of sight. Access to the services is also much easier than using a traditional plasterboard or MF type ceiling as the ceiling tiles just need to be lifted from the grid.

There are many offices with old fissured tiles, with sagging tiles and a mottled grey look they make the office look very dated. We like to fit nice white clean tiles to give a fresh look.

If you want to improve sound performance for a space, or want to hide some services, or have any questions about suspended ceiling types please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44

Tags CARC, suspended ceiling in chippenham, suspended ceilings

All Project Categories Dilapidation work Featured Office Refurbishments Partitioning Projects Suspended Ceilings Uncategorized

Dilapidation Work in Reading

Post author By manager
Post date September 23, 2014

Client: The House of God Evangelical Church
Value: £100k

Dilapidation Work

The House of God Evangelical Church needed us to carry out some Dilapidation work in Reading.

We carry out dilapidation work occasionally and is very similar to the general term of office refurbishments. We carry out this work when a client leaves their current building and it has to be put back to an original state. In this case, the state of the building over three floors was pretty bad, but in essence it just needed all of the things that we currently do. Stripping out, new suspended ceilings, dry lining, painting and decorating, flooring work, demountable partitioning, fitting a small kitchen and minor structural work.

As we were doing the work the client asked us to build some new offices on one of the floors and we constructed the walls from demountable partitioning. Some finished photographs are shown below.

Existing state of the building

As you can see from the photographs below the building needed quite a bit of work doing to it, nothing unusual to what we normally do, just quite a bit of it.

Refurbishment and Dilpadiation work in Reading — No window cills

Finished photographs.

Unfortunately we did not get to many finished photographs for this project, please find some below.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitioning?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

Tags demountable partitions, dilapidation work, dilapidations, House of God, MEA, Reading, suspended ceilings

All Project Categories Dilapidation work Mezzanine Floors Office Refurbishments

Factory Refurbishment

Post author By manager
Post date July 2, 2014

Client: Image Factory
Value: £350k

Office and Factory Refurbishment project

This customer wanted a Factory Refurbishment having taken on the old Royal Mail building in Chippenham.

The first photograph below shows a £1m printing machine and Image Factory invested in two of them, along with taking over the old NHS distribution building on Bumpers Farm Industrial Estate. The complete building had to be refurbished, so the main factory along with the offices along the front of the building.

Factory Refurbishment

A large part of this project was electrical. The main factory had no power infra struture at all to power all of the print machines that the Image Factory owned as well as the new ones; so we had to install a heavy power buzz bar system into the factory and prepare the base and ground works for a new substation to be fitted.

In the main factory the floor had to be scrabbled to remove old oils in the concrete floor and then a high quality epoxy paint applied to the floor. All of the beams, walls and other surfaces also had to be painted.

Factory Refurbishment Photographs

Factory refurbishment in Chippenham — New machine delivered and extraction fitted

Office Refurbishment

As well as the factory itself, the offices at the front of the building had to be completely stripped out and refurbished.

The mezzanine floor had to be turned around and a new jumbo stud fire wall constructed. Below the mezzanine floor we created a new reception area with fire rated ceiling, decorations and flooring. Upstairs included new ceilings, carpets, plastering and decorations as well as a new kitchen. Also fitted upstairs was a new office constructed from Komfort Kameo 75mm demountable partition.

If you need any advice or are thinking of an office refurbishment project please give us a call, we would love to talk to you, on 01380 738844

Tags demountable partitions, factory refurbishment, flooring, Image Factory, Jumbo stud wall, office refurbishment, refurbishment, suspended ceilings

All Project Categories Suspended Ceilings

Suspended Ceiling in a warehouse

Post author By manager
Post date July 1, 2014

Client: Connaught
Value: £35k

Suspended Ceiling

This suspended ceiling project involved two buildings, one very large area and the photograph above showing the front offices. The suspended ceilings were part of a main factory refurbishment project for one of their clients. Working for a Main Contactor meant we had to fit our schedule in with other trades which is always difficult without having tight control on site with every aspect of the project.

Existing photographs

The pictures below show the state of the place when we first looked at it. A considerable amount of debris was on the floors and the main contractor was in the process of dismantling everything and clearing away the site.

Suspended Ceiling — Existing building being stripped out

Suspended Ceiling Construction photographs

Note the fire barrier that we had to install half way down the building.

Suspended Ceiling installation — Cleared area ready to start

Suspended Ceiling installationSuspended Ceiling installation — Finished ceiling with lights

We did give some advice on the selection of the tile, as the one that was specified was very expensive, and so we chose an alternative which was not much cheaper on the cost per square meter, but on 1200 square meters it made a difference to the customer. Other areas such as stair wells and the entrance used an MF ceiling construction which is metal framework construction with plasterboard screwed to the frame, taped and jointed and then decorated in a neutral colour.

Suspended ceiling problems?

There are many types of suspended ceilings available, please click this link for more information. We have been supplying and fitting suspended ceiling systems as part of our main refurbishment projects for a number of years, if you are not sure on what can be done please give us a call.Please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44.

Tags Connaught, MF ceiling, suspended ceiling, suspended ceilings

All Project Categories Suspended Ceilings Toilet Refurbishment

Suspended Ceiling in Chippenham

Post author By manager
Post date July 1, 2014

By the entrance doors

Client: EJS Chippenham
Value: £2.5k

This project involved replacing an existing suspended ceiling in Chippenham. There were several ares to look at including a reception area, as well as supplying and fitting a new grid and tile ceiling for the shower room and toilets. As always the toilet areas take a long time as there are lots of small tile cuts to do as well as forming a bulkhead between some of the areas.

Existing pictures

Suspended ceiling in Chippenham for EJ Support — Front lobby area, old dated ceiling

Construction photos and Finished result

Suspended ceiling problems?

There are many offices with old fissured tiles, with sagging tiles and a mottled grey look they make the office look very dated. We like to fit nice white clean tiles to give a fresh look.

We have been supplying and fitting suspended ceiling systems as part of our main refurbishment projects for a number of years, if you are not sure on what can be done please give us a call.

Please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44.

Tags EJS, shower ceiling, suspended ceiling grid, suspended ceilings

Air Conditioning All Project Categories Design Office Refurbishments Partitioning Suspended Ceilings

Complete Office Design and Refurbishment

Post author By manager
Post date July 1, 2014

Lots of glass

Client: Thales Optronics
Value: £55k

Cre8tive Interiors were ask to look at the complete office design and refurbishment for Thales Optronics in Taunton, to convert an existing factory area into a new reception area. Initial work required the removal of a metal skinned demountable system, ceilings and lighting, along with stripping out and replacing the entrance doors with new glass doors.

The lighting chosen was LG3 direct / indirect fittings which is the recommend lighting systems for modern offices. The partitions included silicon jointed glass called Komfort Polar, joining into Komfort Kameo 75mm system which offers a soft radius profile and joins neatly with the Polar silicon jointed system. The doors are disable access width to conform to the DDA regulations.

Existing Space

Thales did not use this building and wanted to create more of a main reception for the site. The building inside was very factory looking, in that it had metal partitions. Fine for a laboratory environment, not very nice for offices. The lighting was also pretty bad with old lino, the whole area needed replacing.

Office design and refurbishment for Thales Optronics in Taunton — Metal partition walls and hard lino floor everywhere

Office alterations in Taunton — Lots of dark cubbyholes

Interior office work in Taunton — Ceilings all over the place.

Office design work in Taunton — More metal walls

Office refurbishment in Taunton — Entrance doors needed replacing

Drawing and Design work

office design work for Thales — Existing layout to work out what we have

Construction work

Complete Office Design and Fit Out — Lots of metal to come out

Complete office fit out in Taunton — Glass fitted waiting for manifestations

Office design and fit out — Carpets fitted

Final Photographs

Demountable partition in Taunton — View from inside the meeting room

Office reception refit in Taunton — Nice open reception waiting for furniture

Office Reception Redesign — Lots of glass

Design and Refurbishment Work

Often with these projects the hard part is knowing where to start. The customer knows it is not right and may have seen other areas that they like. Translating that into a cost can be quite difficult, so what we do at Cre8tive is to listen and then try and interpret what the customer wants. We go through certain steps and doing the drawing work is one of them.

If you are struggling to come up with something, please do not hesitate to give us a call 01380 73 88 44 or email us on [email protected]

Tags air conditioning, carpet, CDM, dda, decoration, demountable, demountable partitioning, demountable partitions, design, electrical work, factory refurbishment, Fujitsu heat inverter, office partitioning, office refurbishment, suspended ceilings, Thales

Air Conditioning All Project Categories Office Furniture Office Refurbishments Partitioning Suspended Ceilings Visuals

Complete Design and Refurbishment in Bristol

Post author By manager
Post date July 1, 2014

Making a feature of the pillar

Client: Smufit Kappa
Value:£75k

Office Design and Refurbishment

A complete office design and refurbishment project was required, involving initial space planning and design, through to stripping out and refurbishing the office space.

The existing space had a problem with an existing pillar which could not be moved and it was in the middle of the space, so we made a feature of it. We constructed a curved wall around the pillar. The project included: plastering, decorations, air conditioning, flooring, lighting, new suspended ceiling, demountable partitioning, the design and build of a specially sized conference table with pop up modules in the desk to connect a laptop to for presentations. The project also included the supply and installation of office furniture fully co-ordinated with the colour scheme. We also produced some visuals which allowed the customer to appreciate the colour choices.

Design Work

Once we have looked at the current space and taken a brief from the customer, then we draw it. We use Autocad, and we first have to identify exactly what is in the current space which will include the existing lighting, electrical and air conditioning aspects, as well as the walls and other items in the space. In coming up with a new design we first look to see what the customer wants and then try to squeeze it in. In this case we had a pillar in the way, so we made a feature of the pillar in the design. We always draw technical drawings which allows our suppliers to cost items, but sometimes customers can’t visualise what something may look like. We therefore organise some visuals to be produced which help the whole process in getting the project approved.

Complete office design and refurbishment

Visuals

We appreciate that we still carry out visuals by hand and some may say that computer generated visuals are better. However we like to have another perspective on the design and so these are carried out by another company. The visuals are hand drawn and then painted or coloured in and it is a final check that we are happy with the design.

Existing Space Photographs

Office refurbishment — Very green colours

Office design — Angled roof and a pillar in the way

meeting room redesign — All outer walls breeze block

Angled roof's — Nice angles to play with

Office renewal — Squashed display area needed to be more prominent

sloping roof for Smurfit Kappa — Sloping ceiling again

Stripping out Work

Office partitioning for Smurfit Kappa in Bristol — Studwork being fitted

Finished Results

The most pleasing aspect of this project is that we identified a major issue with the layout and as we could not move it, created a feature of it. The pillar ended up being the focal point of the space where the directors could display some of their samples.

Complete office design and refurbishment for Smurfit Kappa in Bristol — Great natural light nice and airy

Do you have something similar and need help?

Often with these projects the hard part is knowing where to start. In particular with this project the space was really awkward. The directors knew that something had to be done as it was so dull but we are a loss on what to do.

Translating ideas into a cost can be quite difficult, so what we do at Cre8tive is to listen and then try and interpret what the customer wants. We go through certain steps and doing the drawing work is one of them.

If you are struggling to come up with something, please do not hesitate to give us a call 01380 73 88 44 or email us on [email protected]

Tags demountable partitioning in wiltshire, design, drawing work, electrical work, flooring, Fujitsu heat inverter, Fujitsu wall mounted, office design, office refurbishment, Smurfit Kappa Upstairs Directors suite, space planning, suspended ceilings, timber demountable partition

All Project Categories Partitioning Suspended Ceilings

Fire rated Partitions

Post author By manager
Post date July 1, 2014

Finished work!

Client: Webbs Motor Caravans
Value: 28k

Fire Rated Partitions

The difficulty with this project was that the client required offices above a mezzanine floor which means that the partitions below have to be fire rated, normally this means the glass has to be georgian wired. In this case we were able to use pyrocet clear glass to still give the 30 minute fire rating and yet not spoil the overall look of the offices.

The fire rated partitions system chosen was Komfort 75mm demountable partition system which allowed us to provide insulation inside the walls to give some degree of protection from the cold when the double doors to the showroom were opened to move caravans in and out. We could have used a cheap general 25mm thick partition roll which 99% of companies use as it is cheap, but in this case we used a Rockwool rw45 slab material designed to be better for insulation.

Partition Construction photos

Not shown are the suspended ceilings ceilings that we had to fit inside the offices. The one in the lower offices had to be 1 hour fire rated to give protection to the mezzanine floor. You can also see from the photographs the pink looking plasterboard on the metal columns of the mezzanine floor, this is fire protection board.

Webbs Motor Caravans Warminster — New showroom

Fire rated partitions in Warminster — Steel structure needing partitions

Partitioning in Warminster for Webbs Motor Caravans — Steel structure needing partitions

Office partitions for Webbs Motor Caravans in Warminster — Upstairs partitions built showroom side

Office partitioning in warminster — Insulation fitting inside walls

Fire rated demountable partitions — High up!

Partitioning in Warminster — Fitting of trims

Fire rated Partitions — End of the offices

Fire rating and Building Regulations, not sure what to do?

Just give us a call or email. We understand partitioning and Building Regulations so can solve most problems. When it comes to offices it is crucial to protect people from any potential fire, the key is to make sure that the partitions give enough protection to allow people to escape. It is not acceptable to cut corners, so we always give the correct advice.

01380 73 88 44 or email: [email protected]

Tags demountable partitioning in wiltshire, demountable partitions, fire rated partitions, suspended ceilings, Webbs Motor Caravans

Air Conditioning All Project Categories Office Refurbishments Suspended Ceilings

Complete Design and Refurbishment

Post author By manager
Post date July 1, 2014

Client: Kingsley Pike Estate Agents
Value: £13k

This Design and Refurbishment project including supplying and fitting two steel beams to support the three floors above the shop, and to remove a structural wall and so needed some design work in order to carry out the refurbishment of the space.

The effective use of space was very difficult to achieve due to the small space in the office, however we still had to produce drawings to satisfy Building Control and to determine exact positions of voice, data and lighting positions. The project included electrical work, decorations, air conditioning, construction of step, flooring, lighting design and carrying out the work in 7 days. We had to carry out a complete design and refurbishment of the existing space.

Design and Refurbishment work

We spent some time working out what was needed in the space and what we could get in. The beam was calculated, as the back wall to the shop needed to come out to widen the office space, the issue was that the wall held up the 3 floors above. One of the main problems was that the main beam was 6 meters long and it took 4 people to lift it into the shop from the main high street. The delivery vehicle had to leave the beams on the pavement whilst everything was prepared.