High-end safety for high-end retail. JRA Safety’s fire strategy for Larry King Marylebone ensures luxury and compliance coexist.
Conduit Street, Mayfair
Conduit Street, Mayfair
JRA Fire Safety Advisors were appointed by Buckingham Management to undertake an intrusive fire resistance survey and prepare a detailed fire engineering technical note for the existing masonry walls at 26–27 Conduit Street, Marylebone, London. The commission was undertaken to support the architect and wider design team in developing a compliant fit-out and refurbishment strategy for the mixed-use building, ensuring the existing structure could satisfy the fire compartmentation requirements of the proposed development.
The building, a historic mixed-use property dating from the 1800s, comprises residential accommodation above commercial occupancies, including retail and auction house premises. JRA’s appointment involved inspecting intrusive survey openings formed within the existing masonry walls throughout the building to assess their construction, thickness, and likely fire resistance performance against the requirements of BS EN 1996-1-2:2005 (Eurocode 6 – Design of Masonry Structures).
The technical assessment considered a range of wall types including party walls, lift shaft enclosures, protected stair walls, external courtyard walls, and separation walls between commercial and residential occupancies. Each wall construction was reviewed against the required fire compartmentation standards identified by the project fire engineer, with detailed analysis undertaken to determine whether the existing masonry construction could achieve the necessary 30-, 60-, 90-, or 120-minute fire resistance ratings.
Through intrusive investigation and technical benchmarking, JRA concluded that the majority of the existing double-leaf masonry walls provided a minimum of 60 minutes fire resistance, making them suitable for many of the proposed compartmentation requirements. However, areas of single-leaf masonry and hollow clay pot construction were identified where additional fire protection measures would be required to achieve compliance, particularly where enhanced 90- or 120-minute fire resistance standards were specified. Recommendations were provided for supplementary fire protection systems, including additional lining and fire-resisting build-up solutions, to enable the existing structure to meet the required performance standards.
This project demonstrates JRA Fire Safety Advisors’ expertise in assessing historic and existing building fabric to determine inherent fire performance, supporting refurbishment and fit-out projects through practical, evidence-based fire engineering advice. The technical note provided the design team with clear and defensible guidance on the suitability of retained construction, helping to inform specification decisions, reduce unnecessary demolition, and support Building Control approval.




















