Villa Adastra (The Salvation Army)

Villa Adastra needed urgent passive fire compliance works in an occupied care home setting in Brighton. With enforcement improvement pressure creating a real risk of shutdown, Vulcan Passive Fire Protection delivered Phase 1 upgrades of passive fire stopping, compartmentation, fire doors, emergency lighting and reinstatement works, achieving full sign-off after inspection and audit, with no handover issues.

When Vulcan Passive Fire Protection began work at Villa Adastra, the situation wasn’t “a few snags to tidy up”. The 16-bedroom wing and loft space were not compliant, and the building was a live, occupied care home in Brighton.

What turned this from a routine project into a high-stakes one was the enforcement improvement pressure. If the work wasn’t completed properly, the building risked being shut down. That’s a serious operational and safeguarding issue in any building, but especially in a care setting with vulnerable residents.

Compliance was the headline, but the client’s concerns were human and practical:

• Disruption risk: contractors moving through a care environment with residents on site
• Programme and budget control: delivering to deadlines without costs creeping up.
• Confidence: previous poor workmanship meant trust needed to be rebuilt through visible quality

For Phase 1, the goals were straightforward:

1. Make the care home compliant (priority one)
2. Deliver in a live, occupied environment with vulnerable residents
3. Complete works on time and within budget

The difference between a compliance job that drags and one that gets signed off usually comes down to delivery method.

So to keep things on track, we held pre-start meetings and reviewed site plans with one purpose: agree safe routes, working zones, sequencing, and how to keep the building operational while works progressed.

The works ran as a phased approach so disruption stayed controlled (which is an essential strategy in a care environment where resident engagement and minimal disruption are key).

The client carried out weekly inspections, which allowed quality issues to get dealt with early and not at handover stage. And it allowed trust to rebuild because our progress was transparent.

Live sites always throw up constraints especially when multiple trades and fire regulations intersect. The team focused on active problem-solving, keeping the job moving and ongoing coordination and communication with other trades while staying aligned with the compliance requirements.

Phase 1 delivery was practical and tangible:

• Complete upgrade of passive fire stopping systems
• Fire compartmentation
• Fire doors
• Emergency lighting
• Carpets and decorating to reinstate spaces

It finished with the outcome the client needed most:

• Fully compliant care home (Phase 1)
• Full sign-off following inspection and audit
• No handover issues
• Awarded Phase 2 as a direct result

And there’s an additional significance here because this was the first project where Vulcan Passive Fire Protection acted as principal contractor as a new business.

We demonstrated the ability to work around vulnerable residents, including resident engagement as part of our corporate social responsibility; the ability to deliver to client programmes and deadlines, collaborating with stakeholders and other trades and most importantly the ability to run a large project with a small, growing team.