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British Aerospace
Location: Broughton, Chester
Client: Airbus
Main Contractor: Laing O'Rourke
Architect: Faulkner Brown
Roof Area: 80,000 m²
Fullflow designed, manufactured and installed its innovative self-priming syphonic rainwater management system to three construction hangars in Broughton, Chester where the wings for the A380 Airbus were manufactured.
The size of the hangars made Fullflow’s self-priming syphonic rainwater system essential for this project. The hangars are a massive 35 metres high and over 300 metres long. This is to accommodate the construction of the huge wing sections (the Airbus has a wingspan of almost 80m). Given the design specification parameters and especially the pipe routing requirements a traditional gravity roof drainage system was proven to both uneconomical and inefficient. The Fullflow syphonic system is designed to operate at full bore flow at a specified rainfall intensity which allows a controlled & efficient transfer of water from the roof surface to ground level.
Due to processes involved in manufacturing the wings, Fullflow had to ensure there were no internal downpipes inside the buildings to maximise the accessible working area, this also has the added benefit of eliminating expensive underground pipework beneath the building envelope, a common drawback encountered with alternative rainwater systems. The Fullflow Self-Priming Syphonic system allows rainwater outlets on the roof to be linked via horizontal collection mains at high level, which are then routed to the perimeter of the building to discharge via external downpipes.
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