Vicentini Auto first began trading in 1974 as a family owned and operated car dealership. Based in the northern Italian city of Verona, it offers new and used vehicles, and specialises in the Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche marques. A new 56,000m2 showroom, comprising three buildings that are designed to house models from each of these brands, took two years to complete and are said to form the largest car centre in Europe. With stock worth millions of euros and many employees, visitors and customers on-site at any one time, Vicentini Auto sought a fire safety detection system.
After being contacted by Vicentini Auto, local distributor, DES, was commissioned to specify to protect the entire site. Zeno Nicolis, the company’s technical manager, says: ‘We are also based in Verona and have supplied systems for many of the region’s high profile projects. We have a number of highly qualified and experienced individuals on the team that possess in-depth knowledge of technical regulations and legislation in the sector. Since 1996 we have worked closely with Hochiki Europe and now distribute the company’s industry leading solutions exclusively.’
After a site visit Nicolis was given a brief to configure a life safety system that adhered to technical and aesthetic guidelines. He says: ‘Like the cars that are displayed there, these buildings are designed, built and finished to the very highest standards. Not only did the fire system have to be almost invisible, so as not to spoil the aesthetics of the showrooms, it also had to offer the very best levels of detection and reliability while reducing the likelihood of unwanted alarms. After considering the various options I felt confident that Hochiki Europe’s FIRElink aspirating fire detection solution would tick all the boxes.’
The FIRElink range of detectors are applied to the protection of clean, dust free places such as car showrooms and dirty and dusty factories. This is achieved by using Laser Dust Discrimination (LDD) with a patented dust management and separator system. At the other extreme, FIRElink is capable of providing sensitivity in computer and clean rooms. In these applications it is able to sense small amounts of smoke.
Stuart Davies, Hochiki’s marketing manager, adds: ‘Most types of buildings can benefit from having an aspirating fire detection system but it tends to be particularly useful where an early warning is desirable. This is because aspirating detectors are around ten times more sensitive than general point detectors.’
Most of the system at Vicentini Auto is hidden from view, as the majority of the 1,800m of pipework is in places such as ceiling voids, without it is claimed compromising the effectiveness of the system. A total of ten FIRElink-400 systems were installed across the three buildings. These were configured around Hochiki’s Enhanced Systems Protocol (ESP) – for addressable communications.
Nicolis adds: ‘The system is linked to three control panels – one in each building – that form part of an integrated building automation system. Each control panel utilises four loops, which are all connected to a central control room from where it is possible to manage all the panels and associated devices on-site.’
The installation also includes a variety of other Hochiki Europe products including 325 ALG-EN optical smoke detectors. This minimises the differences in sensitivity experienced in flaming and smouldering fires and the makers say helps to reduce the possibility of unwanted alarms. Some 30 SPC-ET beam detectors and 101 HCP-E call points were used.
While DES designed and commissioned the system, local company, Moretto, was responsible for its installation. The company’s managing director, Silvio Moretto, says: ‘Hochiki products are extremely well designed. Installing Hochiki aspirating systems is incredibly quick compared to other fire detection systems, particularly when considering the building’s structure.’
The installation was completed on schedule and the new system has worked perfectly, with no unwanted alarms reported. Zeno Nicolis of DES adds: ‘We are very pleased to have been involved with this project which sets new standards for car dealerships, not only in Italy but around the world. We had every confidence that the demands of Vicentini Auto for a reliable, unobtrusive and best-in-class fire detection system would be met by Hochiki Europe, and this has proven to be the case.’
