North Birmingham Academy (NBA)

The North Birmingham Academy (NBA), located in Perry Common, Birmingham, has undergone a significant expansion to enhance its educational facilities. This development includes a new two-storey extension on the west side of the existing structure, designed to accommodate additional classrooms, seminar rooms, and laboratories on the first and second floors.

Jensen Hughes provided fire strategy consultancy for this project, ensuring compliance with national fire safety regulations. A key element of the project involved integrating the fire strategy of the new structure with the existing building while maintaining effective fire safety measures. With a total building occupancy exceeding 2,000 pupils, the scale and complexity of the fire strategy required a tailored approach to ensure efficient evacuation while maintaining the highest safety standards.

The fire strategy for the expansion was developed in accordance with industry standards and tailored to the specific needs of the building and its occupants. A key challenge was the creation of a landlocked courtyard due to the new extension. This resulted in existing stairwells being discharged into an enclosed courtyard, requiring egress through an undercroft. A bespoke fire strategy was developed to ensure continuous safe operations and effective occupant dispersal in an emergency.

Key aspects of the fire strategy include:

Simultaneous Evacuation Strategy: The entire building follows a simultaneous evacuation approach to ensure all occupants can evacuate efficiently in an emergency. Jensen Hughes worked closely with the design team to integrate the evacuation strategy across both the new and existing building, ensuring minimal disruption to circulation routes. The strategy maximised the use of existing stairwells while introducing a new stairwell in the extension to optimise travel distances and overall efficiency.

Compartmentation and Fire Separation: Jensen Hughes developed the internal fire subdivision strategy for the new extension, ensuring effective compartmentation to limit fire spread and maintain safe escape routes. Working closely with the architect, contractor, and MEP designers, we optimised the building layout and services strategy to minimise conflicts with fire compartmentation. This collaborative approach allowed for more efficient ductwork routing, reducing potential weak points for smoke spread in critical areas while minimising reliance on motorised fire and smoke dampers. As a result, the design improved overall fire safety performance while lowering both construction costs and long-term maintenance demands for the operator.

Emergency Egress and Access: The reconfiguration of stairwell final exits into the newly created landlocked courtyard required a tailored fire safety approach. Jensen Hughes developed a solution that allowed for the safe dispersal of all occupants through an undercroft, balancing regulatory compliance with practical buildability and architectural aspirations. 

Firefighting Access: The fire strategy ensured that sufficient firefighting access was maintained to the extended building perimeter, incorporating input from fire service requirements at an early stage. Jensen Hughes collaborated with the design team to refine access provisions, ensuring fire appliance parking, and site circulation routes met regulatory firefighting requirements without compromising site functionality.

Cladding Safety: Early-stage fire safety input was provided for the external envelope design of the new extensions, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements. Jensen Hughes attended coordination meetings with the architect, general contractor, and dry liners to ensure proper external wall compartmentation, effectively integrating the building's structural fire protection needs. This proactive approach minimised the risk of late-stage design changes and facilitated a smoother approval process.