Oval Village Construction Fire Safety Strategy

The Oval Village development posed a unique construction fire safety challenge, combining phased residential and commercial delivery within a constrained and historic London site.

Challenge

Upon taking on the challenge of developing the Oval Village project in London, Berkeley was required to manage fire safety on the large and complex construction site. With plenty of unique challenges to navigate, Berkeley turned to SOCOTEC UK & Ireland to help create and implement a broad construction fire safety strategy.

The construction site included building residential blocks within and around the iconic Oval gas holder structure and developing a large Tesco superstore within record time. With construction occurring across seven blocks, all with a staggered design, different timelines, and phased handovers, it was critical that all strategies put together ensured fire safety on site was managed correctly and on-time.

With such extensive critical infrastructure already in place, any newly implemented fire safety procedures would be required to not compromise the adjacent Oval cricket ground or any of the neighbouring properties.

To prove a success, the project needed to balance the needs of construction workers, health and safety officers, shoppers and residents, all while maintaining compliance with a diverse set fire safety regulations.

Project Background

SOCOTEC's involvement began in 2020 when Berkeley, building upon successful previous collaborations such as the West End Gate project, engaged the team in order to provide construction fire safety strategy services and regular fire risk assessments.

The development features seven residential blocks (A-G) with commercial areas at ground level, as well as shared basement facilities between certain blocks, meeting the progressive construction and handover schedule which spanned multiple years.

Block A: Completed and handed over in 2023, featuring the Tesco superstore
Block B: Commercial area completed, residential phase expected February 2025
Blocks C, D, and E: Under construction at various stages
Block F: Site currently serving as welfare facilities for construction workers
Block G: Completed and handed over in 2025

Talk to our experts

Tabea Uhr

Principal Fire Engineer & Training and Development Manager

tabea.uhr@socotec.co.uk 07714 899 134

Solution

Upon consulting with the client, SOCOTEC developed a comprehensive, adaptive construction fire safety strategy that evolved throughout the project lifecycle.

Due to the way in which the project had been planned out, each building phase required detailed construction fire safety strategies. This also meant that positioning Haki-stairs (temporary construction stairs) was necessary, using recommended ranges rather than fixed locations to accommodate on-site practicalities while still meeting travel distance limitations and providing multiple vertical means of escape via stairs.

Regular site visits and stakeholder meetings involving the construction team, health and safety officers, and financial managers were undertaken by the fire engineering team, as well as input from the fire risk assessment team, too.

Regular on-site compliance monitoring was carried out by our colleagues from the fire safety practice within SOCOTEC UK and Ireland, who undertook construction phase fire risk assessments. These assessments verified the implementation of the construction fire safety strategy and observed any other emerging risks on site.

Then, as the project developed over time, fire safety strategies were modified, based on real-world construction constraints and site logistics. Alternative solutions were presented to the client when initial recommendations conflicted with construction sequencing or other restrains – a mixture of permanent and temporary fire safety measures was suggested in order to optimise both safety and cost-effectiveness.

Conclusion

SOCOTEC's collaborative fire safety strategy for Oval Village demonstrates the importance of a flexible approach to taking on complex development projects.

By providing stakeholders with regular engagement, SOCOTEC was able to identify and resolve practical implementation challenges and offer flexible recommendations, such as Haki-stair positioning ranges, that accommodated site constraints while maintaining fire safety standards. Regular fire risk assessment throughout construction phases ensured compliance and safety.

By successfully balancing modern safety requirements with the constraints of working within a historic Oval gas holder structure, the construction fire safety strategy remains an active and evolving part of the project, providing safe working practices across the site.

The ongoing success of this multi-phase development, as well as other sites by Berkeley reinforces SOCOTEC's expertise in managing complex construction fire safety projects.