Siderise Puts Passive Fire Protection on Tap at Iconic Manchester Redevelopment

Waterhouse Gardens is a £195 million mixed-use development in the heart of Manchester city centre, transforming the historic former Boddington Brewery site into a vibrant new neighbourhood. Thoughtfully designed to offer the best of modern city living, the scheme will deliver 556 homes, luxury resident amenities, and a wealth of commercial and retail opportunities.

To ensure long-term passive fire safety across the development’s five towers—ranging from 10 to 26 storeys—Siderise provided a comprehensive suite of rigorously tested fire protection solutions. From concept to completion, its expert staff worked closely with the project team, delivering market-leading technical guidance and on-site support, helping the project to uphold the highest standards of quality and safety.

Creating a New Icon

The new Salboy development is named in honour of architect Alfred Waterhouse, designer of Manchester Town Hall and the nearby prison, with its landmark Grade II listed ventilation tower constructed in brick and sandstone. Drawing inspiration from these iconic buildings, as well as the historic red brick brewery buildings that previously occupied the site, the elevations of each tower predominantly feature a traditional brick finish. This creates a timeless aesthetic that sets this modern urban development firmly within Manchester’s varied architectural landscape. The towers are joined with decorative rainscreen elements to create a sense of cohesion across the site.

Siderise were brought in by Domis early in the design phase to address the passive fire protection and drainage requirements for the masonry wall elements. The company provide expert technical support and a suite of product solutions to allow the complex façade to be achieved without compromising the fire safety strategy or project schedule.

With a fire performance requirement for 2-hour fire resistance on all towers, Siderise EW 30/30 Cavity Barrier and EW 120/120 Firestop were specified, complemented by the Siderise CT Cavity Tray. This systemised approach provides continuous fire stopping and effective moisture management sourced from a single supplier to ensure complete compatibility.

Waterhouse Gardens was the first project to feature Siderise’s newly launched RH25-120/120 Horizontal Cavity Barrier. This was installed by LDG Contracts, alongside RV25 120/120 Vertical Cavity Barrier, after the fire performance specification for the rainscreen element was upgraded from 90-minutes to two-hours by the project team.

All products are available with full technical documentation and data-rich BIM objects, making them suitable for BIM stage 2 and stage 3 projects. The BIM objects have been authored to the bimstore’s ISO 19650 requirements and are accessible through the bimstore online platform and downloadable in Revit or IFC files.

“Using Siderise on the scheme has been a great success. We’ve incorporated their new 120/120 fire barrier into our rainscreen cladding system. Their excellent service and site support have been key in ensuring a smooth installation on what has been a very exciting project.” - Demi Mulvanny, Operations Manager, LDG Contracts

It’s All In the Details

Throughout the project the Domis design team had been developing their own set of standard details to make life onsite easier on both this and future projects. To ensure that the passive fire protection elements are properly addressed, they worked closely with Siderise Technical Services, drawing on its standard details and test data, and asking advice on what is achievable.

This included robust detailing to deal with the tricky masonry support angles interfaces, and project specific detailing beneath the window openings where the space was severely constricted and over congested because of the need for both moisture management and passive fire protection in that area.

Taking Quality Form Design to Reality

The unique, engineered stone wool Lamella composition of the EW barriers and firestops allowed them to be effortlessly notched, which in turn allowed the masonry support penetrations interrupting the firestopping line to be easily accommodated. Additional testing undertaken for EW-FS 120 in conjunction with masonry supports is third-party verified resulting in certification for 2-hours fire-resistance, gave the project team additional peace of mind.

Incorporating these into the design from the outset, and having the benefit of full masonry support penetration, helped to save significant money and time, as the team could omit the inclusion of concrete up- and down-stands from the slab edge.

Siderise Site Services provided ongoing support throughout the construction phase to both Domis and bricklayers, Kinlan. This included delivering Product Information Training and ongoing site visits to provide detailing advice and inspections to check the installation was progressing as intended. This continual correspondence allowed any issues, particularly relating to the interfacing of the products, to be rectified early in the build programme ensuring a consistent quality level across the large development. Additionally, in between visits, the installation team at Kinlan were able to self-audit their work via the Siderise Inspection App.

“I think having that onsite inspection team is critical. One reason is we can get our standard details put in and checked to make sure that all the other teams and consultants are installing things in the right way— giving us peace of mind. But, invariably, we always come across bespoke details— something happens on site and we have to think on our feet. Having the robust test data and certificates for all the different products from Siderise, and the fact they have been tested together, means we know they are compatible.” - Richard Scott, Design Manager, Domis

Go Beyond, Contributing to Safer Buildings

Waterhouse Gardens is bringing the buzz and energy back to the former brewery site, transforming it into a vibrant community for the next generation of city centre dwellers to thrive. More than just a product supplier, Siderise played a pivotal role throughout the project, supporting the fire strategy at every stage. From developing standard details to conducting mock-ups and inspections, its hands-on approach helped upskill the design and installation teams, ensuring best-practice implementation. The expertise shared between all the teams during this process will continue to shape future developments—contributing to the creation of safe, compliant buildings across the UK for years to come.

To learn more about the products or to watch the project video, https://www.siderise.com/project/waterhouse-gardens-manchester-uk

This article was featured in the Autumn ‘25 edition of BIMCRUNCH. Find the full magazine here. To learn more about Siderise or download their BIM objects, join Bimstore for free. For additional information, visit Siderise’s manufacturer profile or their company website and social media pages.