Vista development is part of the multibillion pound Nine Elms regeneration at the centre of the iconic American Embassy, a masterplan that merited its own Northern Line extension. Vista residential development is on the south side of Chelsea Bridge, taking full advantage of views west to Battersea Park, is made up of 456 one, two and three-bed flats, duplexes and penthouses, rising from six to 16 storeys in height, stepping back as they rise to form terraces that minimise the bulk of the scheme and generate its distinct, curved form.
With 3,500 slab penetrations on this development, the architect wanted to ensure that slab penetrations were fully fixed at tender stages on this construction management project. Stuart Mills of Scott Brownrigg explains “we were keen to ensure these were prescribed at tender, meaning we’d only need to alter them on rare occasions that buyers bought adjacent flats, requiring major internal reconfiguration,
Mills quickly grasped the potential benefits of the Hilti Firestop cast-in device by saying “I liked its simplicity - there’s not much that can go wrong with it as opposed to the workmanship issues you’ll be faced with when creating service openings using traditional methods.
”Positioning is critical as the detail is obviously not a flexible one, but here at Vista there are some tight bathroom voids and it’s helpful that the collar comes in different sizes as well as ratings,” he adds.
Michael Begley, Senior Project Manager at MPB Structures appreciated the next generation of Hilti’s Firestop cast-in device being employed at Vista, saying: “The latest cast-in device’s design modifications have increased its capacity to be tailored to different on-site scenarios. The new device is squarer, more stable and made of denser plastic. That really helped when it came to fixing together the 150mm extension pieces in areas like the podium, where the slab can be 800mm thick in places.
"It’s a case of just marking up, screwing in and job done – the screw on protector caps are also much better. And the way the latest models can snap together with only a 52 mm gap between adjacent 110mm pipes – as opposed to the former 105mm – allows the detail to be more space efficient. This also makes it easier for devices to fit in around rebar runs, its compactness requiring less bending of steel around their positioning.”
“It also brings more cost surety to a contractor when tendering, avoiding potential logistical and programmatic costs associated with building open service holes on a working site”. To Begley, Hilti’s Firestop cast-in device “helped put the project nine weeks ahead of programme”.
This case study is based on the article published by the RIBA Journal in Vol 123 Issue 10, P 44-45 in October 2016. Complete article can be viewed here .
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