Riverside Park and Gardens by St William Homes, Poplar, London

Fire resistant, multi-directional, high movement, structural joint sealing of floor slabs from below for 120minutes, EI Fire ratings using Emshield-DFR from NCC Movement joints Limited

St William is a division of Berkely Homes and works on some of the most technically complex regeneration projects on brownfield sites, which are at the heart of communities across London, with a landscape-led approach. Riverside Park and Gardens is being developed on the former Leven Road Gasworks in Poplar, East London, forming part of the 20 acres Aberfeldy Village scheme. This is an ambitious regeneration project in the borough of Tower Hamlets, with around 3000 new homes, plus shops, offices, cafes, bars, and a cinema, as well as extensive landscaped gardens, play areas, and riverside walks.

On this important development by the River Thames, the floor slab joints only ranged from 15mm to 25mm wide, but they were subject to high multi-directional movement requirements, plus they required a minimum 120-minute EI Fire Rating to protect the future residents. To add to the complexity, there were shear connectors within the floor slabs that also needed protection to ensure structural integrity in the event of a fire.

An “E120” denotes that the system will not allow flames and hot gases from physically passing through the element for 120 minutes, which also explicitly denotes that the system will achieve 120 minutes ‘Integrity’ (E) and ‘Insulation (I), known as EI120, which therefore also achieves 120 minutes ‘Stability’ (R).

Emshield-DFR-2 provided the ideal solution, and one which could also be rapidly installed from below, and in a single operation. This specialist work was completed by Gould Sealants Limited, working for Main Contractor, Morris Roe.

Emshield-DFR/WFR is an EN-1366-4 tested, fire-rated movement joint, designed to be used in movement joints in exterior and interior walls where a combination of watertightness, fire-rating, sound attenuation, and thermal-efficiency are required. Key performance parameters include:

-Up to 100% joint movement (+/- 50% capability);

-100% watertight joints;

-No mechanical fixings to the structure;

-Accommodate changes in direction between the horizontal and vertical plane;

-Accommodates 3-Dimensional movements (including in shear & vertical, as well as joint expansion and contraction;)

-no additional sound concrete cut-outs required;

-Up to 4-hour fire integrity rating to EN1366-4;

-Up to 4-hour thermal Insulation rating to EN1366-4;

-High acoustic insulation & barrier performance;

-CE Approved and Marked