A former post office building at 148 Old Street, London EC1 is seeing a part demolition and soft strip, as a refurbishment.
The so-called ‘cut and carve’ project by demolition contractors Cantillon involves taking out the main spine wall and two floors of the main building as well as the demolition of the central wing. This 12-month first phase of the project finishes in June 2016, to create prime office space in the City.
Cantillon has used the Cygnus wireless alarm from Bull Products since the project started. A total of 31 alarm units are being used across all six floors of the building, this comprising 16 fire call points and 15 fire and first aid call points meaning that there is an alarm at every exit. These are linked to the Cygnus control panel in the reception area.
John Rimmer, Health & Safety Manager for Cantillon, says: “The Cygnus system enables us to have far more confidence if there is a fire or first aid event, as wherever you are in the building, there is an alarm unit only 15 metres away where a button could be pressed – there is no need for clanging bells or sounding horns.” He continued, “With the central control unit in reception we have instant knowledge as to where an alarm has been set off – for instance, on the third floor, unit 15 – and we can also press the button on the control panel to check the system is working at any time. Our fire extinguishers box is also fitted with a tamper switch which can set an alarm off which is also visible on the control unit.”
As a wireless system, the Cygnus alarm is portable and can be transferred to another site after use. As in this case, the Cygnus system has the potential to be taken over by the main contractors as they start the refurbishment and fit-out.
The Cygnus wireless fire alarm has been designed and developed with construction companies to incorporate features required for larger sites. The Cygnus is able to link no less than 480 units in 15 zones. Individual units may be either a fire alarm call point, first aid alert point, smoke detector, heat detector or a combined call point and first aid alert alarm.
Where there are multiple sites within range of each other, the CE marked Cygnus has been designed to operate on different site addresses, to keep each system separate and free from interference.
An optional control panel 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 product also can 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 option is now available on any of the modules which can detect an intruder and alert off-site personnel. Visit www.bullproducts.co.uk.
