Fire lines drawn
above their heads.
Longfield Court is a two storey assisted living scheme in Whitstable, and its residents stayed home for every day of this project. Over four months, Gemini AMPM compartmentalised the open loft voids, sealed penetrations through the building and extended the fire detection for Canterbury City Council, phased so that an occupied building never stopped feeling like home.
A roof void with
no fire breaks.
Above the flats, the loft voids ran largely open, exactly the kind of concealed space where fire travels fastest. Won at competitive tender with an evaluation score of 86%, the contract (JCT Minor Works 2024) covered fire compartmentation within the loft voids, fire stopping through the protective corridors and communal voids, and additional detection integrated with the existing fire alarm system.
The compartmentation went in as Rockwool FirePro fire barrier curtain walls, built in four phases so the building was progressively subdivided rather than disrupted all at once. Sixty minute fire rated loft hatches replaced the old ones, and each flat entrance received a sixty minute fire rated meter overbox with its cable penetrations sealed in intumescent mastic, installed flat by flat. New detection went into the corridors, the roof voids and the mobility scooter store, tested and commissioned to BS 5839.
The scope,
in full.
Loft compartmentation
Rockwool FirePro fire barrier curtain walls dividing the open roof voids into compartments, installed in four phases with before and after photographic records for every location.
Fire stopping
Ablative coated batt, high expansion and acoustic mastics, intumescent pipe wraps, collars and sleeves through corridors, ceiling voids and communal voids, to tested 90 and 120 minute systems.
Hatches & meter overboxes
Sixty minute fire rated loft hatches, and sixty minute meter overboxes at flat entrances with every cable penetration sealed, fitted flat by flat around the residents.
Added detection
New detection in corridors, roof voids and the mobility scooter store, integrated with the existing system and commissioned to BS 5839.
Delivered around
the residents.
An assisted living scheme cannot decant for a fire safety project, so the residents lived through all of it. Site manager Steve Brooks ran the job full time and doubled as resident liaison: tenants raised questions with him directly, communal areas were left clean at the end of every working day, and regular progress meetings kept the council and its contract administrator ahead of every phase.
Practical completion came in early November 2025, with a return visit later that month to fit the last overboxes, and the installation is covered by a FIRAS Certificate of Conformity for penetration sealing, backed by weekly quality inspections and a FIRAS visit during the works. The client’s contract administrator scored the project excellent in every category of its formal reference. Two days before handover, the council’s Senior Independent Living Manager wrote to the contract administrator:
“The feedback from the tenants has been excellent, all saying they have been able to approach Steve if they have had any questions or concerns. The entire workforce have been respectful and mindful of the tenants needs and have ensured tenant safety at all times.”
Delivered
to standard.
- FIRAS certificated: Certificate of Conformity UA6486 for penetration sealing, with weekly QC inspections and a FIRAS site inspection during the works.
- BS 5839: additional detection designed, installed and commissioned against the existing fire alarm system.
- Tested systems throughout: Rockwool FirePro, sixty minute rated hatches and overboxes, installed to their tested details.
- JCT Minor Works 2024 under CDM 2015, delivered for Canterbury City Council.
Planning something
similar?
PQQ-ready evidence and client references behind this project are available on request. A named engineer, not a call centre, comes back within 24 hours.