FIRE DEVASTATES, BUT CINTEC  ANCHORS SURVIVE AT - CHISWICK LANE SOUTH

This short Georgian terrace, 112-118 Chiswick Lane South, owned by Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC, was in the process of being refurbished when, on the night of Friday 7th May 1993, vandals struck. Number 118 was "gutted" and the upper level of no 116 was destroyed.

WT Specialist Contracts were originally sub-contracted by Sir Robert McAlpine to install the "CINTEC" Anchor system manufactured by Cavity Lock Systems Ltd to stabilise the front wall. At the time of the fire, 95% of ties had been installed, with only a small number of RACs to stitch the delamination of brickwork remaining. 15 x 15 SHS CINTEC Anchors had been used to tie the front wall to the party walls, as there was no bond whatsoever. Anchors had also been installed in the piers at each floor level so that these piers could be tied into the floors.

The immediate concern of the Brunel Partnership, the Engineers for the project, and the Falconer Partnership, Architects for the project, was to stabilise the remaining fabric with temporary propping, then to determine whether the anchors installed could be re-used.

The CINTEC Anchor is a cementitiously bound anchor with no resin, which therefore is resilient to the effects of fire.