Complete fire protection:
Minimax at Rheinauhafen harbour
On a good 15 hectares amid the heart of the cathedral city of Cologne and directly on the Rhine an exciting urban blend of inner city living and working, historic and modern architecture is emerging – alternating between making the Rhine harbour an extremely attractive new city quarter while preserving its original character. Also attractive is the security: About 15,000 sprinklers and innovative product solutions guarantee adequate fire protection for the exclusive buildings.
The stylish ‘Kap am Südkai’ office complex and the listed, modernised harbour master’s office are equipped with extensive sprinkler protection. The "Crane Buildings" are an eye-catching, special highlight, their highly contemporary architecture patterned after the historic loading cranes. The two crane buildings – Süd and Mitte – also each have a thick network of 2,600 sprinkler heads, extending across all storeys. An Argotec special extinguishing system moreover guarantees protection of a valuable file archive in Kranhaus Süd [Southern Crane Building]. It extinguishes completely free from residues with the non-toxic inert gas argon and is the ideal solution for the protection of sensitive equipment or valuable items, which could otherwise be damaged using other extinguishing agents.
1,500 Undercover sprinklers provide discrete security to meet the stringent requirements for aesthetics and the level of furnishings in the new Rheinauhafen harbour VD-Office block. Sprinklers in Minimax’s Undercover product family are the optimum solution for harmonic and discrete integration into the ceiling design. The innovation is that the Undercover sprinklers are built directly into the VD-Office’s concrete ceilings. Thanks to the plastic pipes, which can be - according to the Undercover principle - laid in concrete ceilings, areas without suspended ceilings can now also be protected with Undercover sprinklers.
It is not only the impressive architecture in the overall Rheinauhafen harbour project that is important but also what can be found below them: Rheinauhafen harbour is attractive to private transport needs with "Europe’s longest underground car park", extending the length of 1,600 metres below the site, as well as other private garages. The underground car parks are protected by a total of about 5,500 sprinklers. Prudent foresight, as during floods it is no longer possible for even the fire brigade to get through to Rheinauhafen harbour. In addition to traditional sprinkler systems, Minifog EconAqua fine mist sprinkler systems were also installed in the underground car park. Compared to classic sprinkler systems the innovative, effective Minifog EconAqua fine mist extinguishing technology uses up to 85 percent less extinguishing water.