378-394 George Street, NSW

Sector

Commercial

Location

Sydney CBD, NSW

378-394 George Street, Sydney required a fire engineering solution for a supermarket fitout on the Lower Ground Floor within a mixed-use high-rise building – while maintaining the operational layout essential for retail functionality.

In our approach to this mixed-use high-rise fitout we addressed the constraints of the Building Code of Australia (BCA) Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions, developing performance-based solutions that enabled the desired supermarket layout while ensuring safe evacuation for high occupancy retail operations.

Key challenges:

Travel distances to an exit reached up to 43m instead of the 40m permitted by BCA provisions, with separation between alternative exits extending up to 78m beyond the 60m limit.
Managing large occupant loads and ensuring efficient evacuation in a high-occupancy retail space located on the Lower Ground Floor.
Coordinating the tenancy fire safety measures with the base building’s existing fire protection systems while maintaining visibility and safe conditions during evacuation.

Key solutions:

Conducted a comparative analysis of Required Safe Egress Time (RSET) to demonstrate that extended travel distances would not compromise occupant safety.
Installed smoke detectors throughout the tenancy on an 8m × 8m grid, exceeding standard requirements for enhanced detection coverage.
Implemented full sprinkler protection for the supermarket tenancy and established 180-minute fire separation between the supermarket and loading dock areas.

Key outcomes:

Achieved compliance with BCA Performance Requirements DP4 and EP2.2 through robust performance-based fire engineering analysis.
Maintained safe egress conditions despite extended travel distances while optimizing the retail layout for operational efficiency.
Integrated fire engineering solutions with existing base-building systems to ensure consistency and operational effectiveness.