ResMed Campus – Northwest Business Park Sydney
The team of Scientific Fire Services delivered an innovative solution developed around fire safety engineering principles for the ResMed 'Campus', a leading manufacturer of medical equipment.
Much thought went into creating the state-of-the-art campus environment in Sydney's prestigious Norwest Business Park. Stage 2 of the ResMed facility has a host of amenities including breakout areas for casual meetings, numerous meeting rooms equipped with the latest technology, a gymnasium, 25m swimming pool, cafés, off-street parking and an open central atrium connecting all office level floors.
The innovative architectural design presented the challenge of preserving the design vision while maintaining a high standard of fire safety. Scientific Fire Services Pty Limited conducted a comprehensive fire hazard analysis and fire safety engineering assessment of the proposed design for the Stage 2 ResMed Campus project.
The basis of the fire safety engineering approach included:
- Innovative smoke hazard management system design for the combined open office plan and open atrium.
- Rationalisation of fire compartmentation volumes within the Stage 2 Campus building
- Installation of advanced video smoke detection system to central atrium
- Rationalisation of sprinkler system to high ceiling areas
- Adoption of gaseous suppression systems to critical areas
- Flexible occupant egress provisions relying on common travel paths adopted for occupant egress
The assessment involved extensive Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling in order to ensure the smoke hazard management system performance was compatible with the life safety goals established by the design team.
Detailed computer evacuation simulations were conducted for the entire Stage 2 ‘Campus’ to substantiate the effective occupant egress design was achieved and compatible with functionality and security measures.
The performance based fire safety engineering approach has supported the unique architectural design of the Stage 2 Campus. A more rational and logical basis of design has been supported by sophisticated engineering analyses.