With growing emphasis on managing the risk of smoke and fire within building safety, Britain’s leading air movement engineer Gilberts is leading the way to optimise control.
To address increasing demand and to exceed criteria laid down in the latest Building Regulations, Gilberts is launching a new, fully tested range of insulated smoke and fire dampers. The insulated dampers compliment Gilberts’ established Ductgard units for HVAC ductwork.
The insulation element of the new dampers helps minimise the risk of heat transfer and thus the risk of fire spreading beyond the compartment. Its performance exceeds the two relevant layers of fire safety in buildings: integrity of compartmentation and structural safety.
Spring and thermal fuse activated, the insulated dampers offer fire resistance of EI30, EI60, EI90 and EI120 for general ventilation systems with walls and partitions of various ratings.
Thus, they deliver effective cut-off partitioning between the fire-engulfed zone and the remaining part of the building, helping maintain the building integrity.
The range is fully tested and certified to EN15650, EN13501-3 and EN1366-2.
Says Ian Rogers, Gilberts’ Sales Director:
“Throughout Europe, having the damper maintain the integrity and insulation value of the fire compartment is preferred. Here in the UK we are seeing a tendency to follow that lead. At Gilberts we are known for offering products that exceed expectation. We believe in being proactive and giving customers options above and beyond legislated requirement, that are fully tested, to an improved performance level, now, and at an attractive price point. If standards can be improved on competitively, surely it makes sense to do so, especially when dealing with fire and its implications within buildings?
“It also means we offer a full validated range of smoke and fire control and curtain fire dampers, in the UK.”
The introduction of the insulated dampers builds on Gilberts’ 60+ years’ heritage of bringing to market advanced technology that enhances the design, safety, energy efficiency and occupier comfort of non-domestic buildings.
All Gilberts’ products – standard lines and bespoke solutions – are designed and developed in accordance with BS EN ISO 9001:2015 quality standard in the company’s state of the art 140,000 ft² facility in Blackpool.