Piccadilly Underpass – City of Westminster, London
PROJECT
Piccadilly Underpass is a tunnel in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl’s Court, Heathrow Airport and the M4 motorway westward.
CHALLEGES
The tunnel was built in 1962 to relieve traffic congestion and the ventilation fans inside the tunnel were designed for pollution control. Therefore, no fire safety measures are in place at this time.
SOLUTIONS
As the structural information was limited, IDF conducted a detailed fire survey in each area of the tunnel to analyse the existing structural fire situation. Additionally, CFD modeling was carried out to determine the temperature level inside the tunnel in case of a fire and to estimate the possible escape scenarios for people. Finally, IDF provided a fire resistance assessment to determine the intrinsic fire resistance rating of the tunnel’s structure and its passive fire protection.
