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February 2021
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Inside the February Issue |
Ceiling Panels Satisfy Health and Safety Codes with Style
When the health department and the fire marshal have conflicting code requirements, it takes a product with special properties to satisfy both and still look attractive. |
The popular Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip foodservice chain faced this problem with their new in-mall kiosk design, and found a solution by using Ceilume thermoformed ceiling panels. Not only did the ceiling system resolve the health and fire code conflict, but it also reduced construction costs and provided a distinctive, brand-enhancing appearance.
Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip recently upgraded its stand-alone kiosk design for shopping malls. It includes counter seating plus a 200-square-foot seating area in front of the kiosk, with convenient electrical outlets for smart phones and computers, free Wi-Fi, and digital menu boards. It is designed to be a destination and gathering place. Of the 18 kiosks under contract with mall-owner Rouse Properties, however, four required modifications to meet code.
“Health departments require roofs or
canopies over kiosks located next to escalators
or under balconies,” said Todd
Panchuk, construction manager for Crest
Foods, franchisor of the Nestlé Toll House
Café by Chip chain. The roofs protect food
preparation and display areas against
items thrown or dropped from above.
Fire codes, on the other hand, mandate that fire suppression sprinklers be able to protect areas under canopies. Conventional ceiling panels would block a mall’s existing sprinklers and require considerable expense to install additional sprinklers under canopies.
Kiosk designer and fabricator Ikoniq
reconciled the conflict by using Ceilume
drop-out ceiling panels that can be installed
beneath sprinklers. The panels are
made of a special thermoformed material
that softens at elevated temperatures.
When exposed to heat from a fire, the
lightweight panels drop out of a conventional
ceiling grid and allow sprinklers to
function properly.
“Drop-out panels were desirable so we
could avoid sprinklers underneath the
unit,” explains Ikoniq president Gregory
Swistak, adding that, “We liked the styles
that were available and the idea that the
panels are easy to clean and maintain.”
Christine Burgasser, project manager for Ikoniq, was present at the Colin Creek Mall in Plano, Texas when the first roofequipped kiosk was installed. She recalls that the fire marshal inspecting the project looked at the panels and quickly approved the kiosk. “He was like, ‘OK! All good!’”
Ceilume panels can be used in most
types of buildings because they are Class
A rated for surface burning characteristics
and approved or listed by UL, IAPMOUES,
and other building safety organizations.
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