DFC is delighted to be working alongside Gateshead Council, PATRIZIA AG and Ask Real Estate UK on NewcastleGateshead Quays, a new waterfront arts and leisure development on the banks of the River Tyne. The £260 million, 585,000 square foot development will include a 12,500 seat arena, an adjacent 7,600 persons capacity conference centre, a dual-branded hotel, and large areas of public realm and performance space. Gateshead Council Planning and Development Committee has recently approved plans for the development.

Once complete, NewcastleGateshead Quays is expected to create nearly 2,000 jobs and generate £60 million annually for the local economy. Venue management firm ASM Global will operate both the arena and exhibition centre, which could host 300-plus events per year with more than 750,000 visitors.

Due to the high occupancy of the spaces and site constraints, a key fire engineering challenge is that sizing the exit widths in accordance with prescriptive methods in the guidance documents is not feasible. The fire safety solution therefore adopts an alternative, performance based approach. This enables a practical solution tailored to the specific fire safety goals, building use and site constraints. The design relies on a range of passive fire protection measures (e.g. horizontal compartmentation between the different assembly areas) and active systems (e.g. sprinklers and natural or mechanical smoke extract) that are also mindful of the architectural intent and client goals.

Close collaboration with the approving authorities, HOK, AHR and Planit architects, and the engineering design team has ensured that project risks are appropriately mitigated whilst simultaneously enabling a coordinated fire safety solution.

*Images courtesy of HOK