ABBEY UPHOLSTERY FACTORY

Location: Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland

Abbey Upholstery Factory was badly affected by a fire in April 2021 which burnt down a large section of the facility. Specwall was used in four phases to help rebuild the internal dividing walls. The majority of these were 6m tall or higher and more than 700m2 of Specwall was required.

The factory is made up of more than 7,000m2 of floorspace and Specwall was chosen for the refurbishment for three main reasons.

Firstly, to allow the factory to continue operations, walls that fell in the fire needed to be sealed up as soon as possible to keep the elements out. Specwall’s fast installation time and the fact it requires no scaffolding made it the perfect choice to complete this job quickly. The modular nature of Specwall also meant that it could be built around existing obstacles with ease.

Secondly, Specwall is resistant to water damage and can be installed in any weather conditions unhindered. This allowed our system to also act as a temporary external wall until the new roof was completed as Specwall releases any water it absorbs over time without ill effect.

Thirdly, the inherent fire rating of 3 hours or more offered by our panels gave the factory owner comfort knowing that if there was another fire the damage would be minimised. Specwall means that fire cannot more through the factory as fast or do nearly as much damage.

The owner had been dealing with the fallout of the fire for some time before Specwall came on board. Specwall solved the issues described above in a short time frame and provided him with peace of mind. The owner was also impressed by the fact that only 4% of the Specwall panels were wasted over the course of all four phases in off-cuts.