Case Study

Sky High Protective Performance

Sherwin-Williams was asked to supply both fire protection and anti-corrosion coatings systems for the landmark building. These systems had to give 20 years external corrosion protection, and also 90/120 minutes fire protection.

Designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, The Shard is an 87-storey skyscraper forming part of the London Bridge Quarter development.

Inaugurated in 2012 and standing approximately 306m (1,004ft) tall, The Shard remains one of the tallest and most recognisable buildings in Europe.

The structure was inspired by a vision to create a striking vertical city incorporating retail, offices, hotel, apartments, restaurants and a public viewing gallery. Opened in 2012, a million people visited the Shard’s viewing platform in the first year, and up to 6,000 people a day visit the building’s restaurants and bars.

Solution

Sherwin-Williams partnered with Severfield Reeve, the fabricator on The Shard, and worked with structural engineer WSP and main contractor Mace to provide a solution for the intumescent fire protection that could be applied at works rather than on-site.

This allowed Mace to reduce the project completion time on-site by eliminating a complete painting step in the critical construction programme whilst also providing a much higher degree of quality control and aesthetic finish to the fire protected steelwork.

Sherwin-Williams offered full specification/technical and practical advice from the early design stages to the completion of the project, with staff providing a complete fire take-off and inspection service.

Coating used for corrosion protection were Macropoxy™ C400V3 primer and Acrolon™ C137V2 top coat.

Coatings used for fire protection were FIRETEX® C69 fast track blast primer, FIRETEX M95, part of the ultra-durable FX9500 series of epoxy intumescent coatings, FIRETEX FX2002, FIRETEX FX4000 from the FX2000 series of fast drying solvent based intumescent coatings, with Acrolon C137V2 as a top coat.

FIRETEX C69
A two-pack epoxy blast primer for intumescent coatings. FIRETEX C69 can be overcoated after half an hour with FIRETEX intumescent coatings offering a fast-track solution to off-site intumescent application.
Macropoxy 400
Multi-functional epoxy coating suitable for the protection of steelwork in a range of exposure environments from C1 to C5 as defined in BS EN ISO12944-2:2017, including buildings, car parks, petrochemical plants, breweries and power stations.
FIRETEX FX2003
A single pack thin-film solvent-based intumescent coating. Designed for in-shop application by airless spray, to provide fire resistance for up to 120 minutes on structural steel.
FIRETEX FX9500
Scrim free epoxy intumescent coating suitable for cellulosic fire protection. Designed for application by airless spray to provide fire resistance for periods of up to 120 minutes on structural steel.