Blagrave Street, Reading — Six-Storey Fire Escape

This six-storey galvanised fire escape was installed within a restricted internal courtyard in central Reading.

The existing building was surveyed using a total station, allowing each landing to be coordinated accurately with the existing floor levels.

The complete staircase is cantilevered from an 18-metre-high, 400 × 400 × 20mm SHS central column weighing 235kg per metre. The column was installed in four-metre sections joined by complex structural splices.

Installation used a specially developed lifting beam and runner system mounted to the surrounding scaffold. The scaffold and lifting arrangement were removed and reinstalled for each four-metre column section as the structure increased in height.

Architectural mesh cladding encloses the completed staircase and provides a consistent external finish.

Scope: Total-station survey, design development, detailing, fabrication, delivery and installation.