Bilco on the roof at Cambridge laboratory

Bilco, smoke ventilation, roof access hatch
James Fisher (left), Bilco UK/Europe general manager, and Neil Lyons, contracts manager at T. R. Freeman, check out the access hatch and smoke vents installations on the roof of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.

Bilco roof access hatches on the roof of one of the largest centres of health science and medical research in Europe will also act as smoke ventilators in the event of a fire. The three hatches have been installed on the roof of a new building Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

These REM units each measure 1 x 1.5 m and were supplied with associated equipment, including dedicated back-up control panels, fireman’s switches and smoke detectors. When smoke is detected, the vents automatically raise to the fire open position of 140° to rapidly disperse heat, smoke and noxious gases.

They were installed by roofing contractor T. R. Freeman, part of the Kershaw Group using tower cranes over an area of 6500 m2 on the roof of a new building to house the molecular-biology laboratory, which is due for completion in 2012.

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