The Monument Building in the City of London is using a wireless alarm system during construction works. Standing by The Monument, which marks the origin of the Great Fire of London, the new building by Skanska will comprise 94,000sqft, 88,000sqft of office space with 4,000sqft of retail, over ten floors with terraces at several levels.
Skanska has been using the Bull Products’ Cygnus product since construction started last year. The building firm specified some 26 units for installation across all ten floors of the project. The Cygnus alarm can link as many as 480 alarm and detector units in zones on a construction site, and individual units can be fire alarm call points, first aid alerts, combined call points and first aid alerts, smoke detectors or heat detectors.
Claire McCormack, Health and Safety Manager at Skanska says: “We found Cygnus to be a very good system, providing not just alarms but first aid points as well. If an operator, say on level seven, hits the first aid button then we know exactly where to send help. Also, if for instance a crane driver is unwell, then that person too can hit an emergency button to raise the alarm.
“As the whole system is reusable on future construction projects, it is a very sound investment and financially much better than hiring. Also by purchasing the Cygnus system, Bull Products hold the units in stock on our behalf for us to call off when we require, and they also maintain the system for us”.
Intended purely for use on construction sites, the CE marked Cygnus has been designed for use in dense concrete and steel structured buildings and areas where other radio frequencies are in operation, and so particular attention has been given to achieving connection range, the makers say. Where there are multiple sites within range of each other, the Cygnus has been designed to operate on different site addresses, to keep each system separate and free from interference.
Cygnus features an optional control panel which provides an event log function which records any events such as an alarm activation, low battery warning, and signal faults, all of which can be viewed if necessary in the history folder held on the panel. The system also has the ability to test all units and has an evacuate function which will act as a call point to the rest of the alarm units.
Each unit in the system can provide the panel with information at regular intervals. This explicit information confirms the unit is still present and what the battery status of each device is. Known as the ‘heart beat’ this message is monitored by the control panel where fitted and if the ‘heart beat’ is not heard for several intervals, the control panel logs a full status for that unit.
A PIR (passive infra-red) option is now available on any of the modules which can detect an intruder and alert off-site personnel for added safety protection.
Bull adds that it offers a full one-year guarantee on all Cygnus devices and provides technical, on-site and after-sales service support in addition to its standard maintenance contracts.
Further information
Available from Bull Products on 0844 669 1111, by emailing [email protected] or by visiting www.bullproducts.co.uk.
