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Minto Shopping Centre Mönchengladbach

System Schröders doors in the Minto Shopping Centre

System Schröders security doors in Minto Mönchengladbach, photo: TwooDoo

Fire resistance and smoke control doors for the Minto in Mönchengladbach

Custom solutions for safe and carefree shopping

With the opening of the Minto in March 2015, Germany's first 4-star shopping centre opened its doors. On Hindenburgstraße in central Mönchengladbach, visitors have found, since then, a mix of shopping, entertainment, gastronomy, and recreation on an area of just under 42,000 square metres distributed over four levels. To ensure the safety of visitors who appear daily in large numbers, fire and smoke protection plays a central role. The custom solutions in the area of fire and smoke control doors came from Franzen Feuerschutztüren from Erkelenz. They supplied doors for special requirements in the high-traffic internal and external areas as well as for the technical area of the Minto.

Custom solutions for maximum comfort and safety

In addition to the usual fire and smoke protection closures, special solutions also had to be installed in the Minto that ensure the safety of all visitors and staff while at the same time being in harmony with the unique external construction. In addition, special doors were required for the transformer area. The company Franzen Feuerschutztüren was commissioned to find a solution for these complex requirements. The door manufactory based in Erkelenz, which has been producing fire resistance doors since 1972, covers the complete gate portfolio in all possible dimensions and equipment and is particularly specialised in the production of custom solutions.

Fire protection and high frequency taken into account

For fire protection, Franzen relied on three door types, which were individually manufactured according to the requirement profile. Among other things, in the food court area, several double-leaf T90-RS fire protection easy-running doors with dimensions of 250–280 x 220 centimetres were installed, which simultaneously serve as fire, smoke, and escape doors. "However, the gates do not only serve as access to the escape routes, but should also enable service personnel to gain access to their workspaces. Accordingly, these were equipped – taking all norms into account – with special easy-running hinges with patented metal-polymer composite slide bearings for simplified manual operation of the door leaves, as well as with fully automatic opening and closing mechanisms that are completely deactivated in the event of a fire," says Andreas Deppe, Managing Director of Franzen Feuerschutztüren. "Similarly, single-leaf T90 doors were installed, which serve both for personnel access and for access to escape areas in an emergency. Our easy-running doors also ensure opening with minimal exertion of force and thus a high level of safety."

External doors adapted to architecture

For the external area, Franzen designed T30 doors that were specifically adapted to the curved aluminium composite board (AluCobond) external facade. The system provider for fire, smoke, burglar resistance, and acoustic performance System Schröders, in whose license Franzen manufactures, obtained the necessary individual approvals from the Ministry for Building, Housing, Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Deppe explains: "As a manufactory, we manufacture under license from System Schröders. Thanks to this cooperation, we can draw on versatile, tested, and approved products. Thanks to this expertise, we are even able to produce custom-made items that require special approvals." Also installed in the facade were doors from Franzen, type System Schröders ASN-1 according to DIN EN 14351-1. In addition to burglar resistance and acoustic performance, they also serve as escape doors to the stairwell area of the Minto and thus enable escape from the parking deck in an emergency.

Special doors also for the technical area

The required custom solutions for the rooms where the transformers of the Minto are housed were supplied by Franzen in the form of its transformer room doors Franzen TR. These double-leaf doors measuring 250 x 280 centimetres have a maximum ventilation cross-section and, despite their special construction, are nevertheless very robust. In the event of an arc fault, the doors provide defined pressure relief and minimise the risk of damage to the building fabric that can occur inside the room when the pressure rises due to increased air temperature. At the same time, during normal operation they offer excellent heat exchange thanks to their large ventilation slots.

"Like almost every construction project nowadays, the Minto could not do without individual custom solutions," Deppe summarises the project. "With our experience in the field of special door manufacturing, we were able to offer the client an extensive solution portfolio with which we ultimately fulfilled all the requirements necessary for the completion of the Minto with its extraordinary appearance and exclusive impression. The expertise of our partner System Schröders additionally helped us to complete the order to the complete satisfaction of our customer within the specified period."

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