A corridor that stays open while work happens either side of it is the hardest protection problem on a project. Occupiers walk past every day, the fire strategy still applies, and any failure is visible to the client’s staff rather than to a site manager. Protection has to behave like a building component and come off cleanly afterwards.
Fixing into what you are protecting
The awkward truth is that the wall you most need to protect is usually the one you least want to drill. Screwing into finished plasterboard leaves holes to fill; screwing into a partition on a tenant’s demarcation line can be a lease issue. Options in order of increasing permanence: compression-fitted panels held between floor and soffit, adhesive-mounted protection on removable tapes, and mechanical fixings into studs with making-good in the contract.
Fire and smoke
This governs material choice more than anything else. On an escape route, combustible protection may be acceptable in some jurisdictions and not others, and some clients impose their own standard regardless. Get the required classification in writing from the fire consultant before ordering, because the answer varies by country, by building use and sometimes by individual insurer.
Surface spread of flame and perception
A polypropylene panel behaves differently from a plywood hoarding, and the assessor will ask for a classification rather than an opinion. Where we cannot evidence what a specifier needs, we say so at enquiry rather than sending a certificate that covers something else – a habit we have written about in what a supplier can honestly say about compliance.
Surviving public traffic
Corridor protection takes impacts from trolleys, cleaning equipment, deliveries and wheelchairs. Impact usually lands at the same height repeatedly, so a single deep gouge at bumper or trolley height is normal and worth designing for: a sacrificial facing, or a panel thick enough that routine impacts mark it rather than denting the wall behind.
Keeping it presentable
Occupied routes get inspected by people who are not on the project. Scuffed, peeling or taped-up protection reads as a badly-run job even when the works behind are fine. Budget for swapping the worst panels mid-programme rather than leaving them until handover.
Removal and making good
Decide before installation who removes it, when, and what standard the wall has to be left in. Adhesive residue, fixing holes and paint pull-off are the three usual handover disputes, and all three are cheaper to plan than to argue about during retention release.
Interfaces with other packages
Corridor protection interferes with more trades than any other temporary item: ceiling access, lighting, fire systems, signage and decorating all need the wall behind it at some point. Agree an access procedure where the trade notifies, protection is lifted for a defined section, and somebody reinstates it the same day. Without that, sections get left open indefinitely.
Signage is a specific recurring conflict. Wayfinding and room signage often cannot wait for handover, and putting it over protection leaves it hanging in fresh air at strip-out. Either mount it through into the substrate properly, or accept it as temporary and re-fix it later. Before any of that, the classification question has to be settled – see fire ratings for temporary wall protection panels.
What we can do
We cut PP honeycomb wall protection panels to dimension with sealed edges, and we can supply them with removable fixing detail rather than screw fixings. Send the corridor width and height, who keeps using it, and what your fire consultant requires, and we will tell you what we can evidence and what we cannot.