Fire safety is no longer conceivable without glass fibre. In one of the largest shopping and entertainment malls in Vietnam, LOTTE Mall West Lake Hanoi, glass fibre fabric made by VALMIERA GLASS GROUP is used to satisfy high fire safety requirements. This fabric serves as a fire curtain protecting public spaces from propagation of smoke and fire between rooms and floors. Our coated glass fibre fabrics TG-415-G-SP(HP) and GW-640-G-SP(HP) woven at our Valmiera plant and coated with polyurethane at our Sherborn plant are used in the Mall.
“Our participation in the LOTTE Mall West Lake Hanoi project is the result of many years of work and has been achieved working closely together with our partner, the official distributor of our products in Vietnam. The fabric serves as a fireproof barrier to separate rooms and floors, thus protecting people from fire and smoke and making work of the rescue services easier. The fabric was cut to certain size and shape, attached to a power driven system and installed in the ceilings. The fabric barrier descends all the way to the floor as soon as a fire alarm is activated and has a built-in exit for evacuating people. LOTTE Mall West Lake project is special as it uses accordion fire curtains, and their shape and size are also unusual. The systems placed between the floors have round shape with multiple curves and had to be adapted to the architects’ vision for the project. Because of their enormous size, weight and unusual shape, each system is lifted and lowered by 60 separate motors working together as one. This is just one of many buildings where our fabric is used,” says Oto Grīnbergs, VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA Sales Director in the North American, Middle Eastern and Asian markets.
In the event of a fire, fire curtains divide the areas into sections thus preventing fire and smoke from entering potential ignition zones. They significantly reduce the damage caused by fire and ensure timely evacuation of the people, which is especially important in public places. The advantages of fire curtains are their compact design and inconspicuous appearance until an alarm signal activation when the curtain automatically descends to contain the fire and smoke. Our glass fibre fabric is a perfect fire safety solution for high-rise buildings, shopping centres and other public places exposed to high fire risk.
High temperature resistance and low residual shrinkage of our fabric are the main characteristics which determine its selection for such major projects. Years of experience also give our customers confidence that our fabric can be used in such projects.
LOTTE Mall West Lake Hanoi, which officially opened on 22 September 2023, is a modern complex situated near West Lake in downtown Hanoi and offering a wide range of shopping, dining and entertainment options. It has high-end stores, a cinema, an aquarium and a hotel creating a multifunctional space for both locals and tourists.