Compartmentalizing the roof space whilst allowing free bat movement.
Bats are protected in one of the most romantic houses in England. Combe House is set within its own estate one mile from Gittisham, once described by Prince Charles as ‘the ideal English village’. The house is a Grade One listed Elizabethan manor house which has recently had a restoration to its original kitchen. To ensure that current building regulations were adhered to, fire protection within the loft space had to be designed to accommodate the resident bat population. Smalleared horse-shoe bats have been resident for a great number of years and they presented a rather difficult problem in balancing the human needs with the needs of the bats. The need for fire protection and openings for free movement of the bats was paramount in the choice of materials and their use. The combination of two products was needed to help ensure fire protection of the building and the preservation of the resident bats. Envirograf® Product 57 60-minute fire barrier curtain and a thin-wall curtain damper were needed in the roof space to act as a bulwark against the spread of fire. The size of the compartment needed was 390x390mm, so that bats could fly from one compartment to another in the loft space, but the openings would seal only on an extreme rise in temperature.
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