Residential towers

How does Residential towers work, step by step?

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   Step 1: Establish scope and the management model

   The designer and the client set out which communal areas are covered and confirm the boundary at the apartment threshold. At the same time the operating model is agreed: whether the building has a concierge watching live, whether the managing agent reviews recordings after an event, or whether the system simply records for later use. That decision changes the head end, the network provision and the space needed, so it is fixed early rather than discovered at commissioning.

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   Step 2: Coordinate the head-end room

   The head end needs a room, and rooms are contested in a tower. It has to be big enough for the equipment and for somebody to work on it, adequately powered and cooled, dry, with controlled access and a clean route in for the cabling. It is coordinated with the other building systems, because on many projects it sits alongside them. Losing this room to a late space grab is one of the more expensive coordination failures on a residential tower, because everything cables back to it.

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   Step 3: Design containment into the risers and communal ceilings

   Containment is coordinated with the wider services package and installed as the floors go up. Vertical routes run in the risers with the other systems, horizontal routes cross communal ceilings to each position, and fire compartmentation is maintained at every crossing with the appropriate sealing. Repetition helps here: a typical floor is set out once and repeated, which makes it worth resolving properly at the first floor rather than adjusting on every level.

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   Step 4: Cover the entrance, lobby and core

   The entrance and lobby are the busiest and most useful positions in the building, and also the ones the architect cares most about visually. Positions, mountings and finishes are agreed with the architect at design stage so that fixings, ceiling details and any recesses are built in. The core routes - stair lobbies, refuse and cycle stores - follow the same containment strategy. Where the system is to work alongside the door entry installation, the interface is agreed between the two specialists before either is installed.

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   Step 5: Deal with the car park and the lifts

   The car park is a different environment: long runs from the core, poorer lighting, vehicle movement and often a wetter, dirtier atmosphere. Containment and mountings are specified accordingly, and coordination with the ventilation, sprinkler and lighting installations is needed because they all want the same soffit. Lift car coverage requires a cable that travels with the car and an interface the lift contractor provides, so it is agreed with them at order stage rather than negotiated on site once the lifts are in.

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   Step 6: Provide power, network and resilience

   Power and network provision is designed as part of the building's wider infrastructure, with the load and the data capacity accounted for in the electrical and network designs. Where the client wants the system to keep running through a power interruption, that requirement comes from the client and their adviser and is designed in from the start, because retro-fitting resilience to a completed head end is disruptive and expensive.

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   Step 7: Coordinate privacy provisions with the design team

   Recording residents in the communal parts of their home carries obligations around signage, retention and access to recordings. Signage in particular is a physical item that has to be located, specified and fixed, so it is coordinated with the architect and included on the drawings rather than added in the last week. The landlord or managing agent and their advisers determine the policy and how the obligations are met. The contractor provides the installation, the signage positions the design shows, and a record of what was installed where.

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   Step 8: Commission by area and hand over to the managing agent

   Commissioning runs area by area as floors and communal spaces complete, with each position proved recording to the head end and the results recorded. Interfaces to door entry and lifts are proved separately and then together. Handover goes to the party who will actually run the building, which is usually the managing agent rather than the developer, and it covers operation, maintenance access and the as-built record. Systems installed perfectly and handed over to nobody in particular are a recurring failure on residential towers.