A case study of a fire alarm system for one of London’s newest multiple-use facilities, Spring Mews in Vauxhall. Completed in September 2014 by developer CLS Holdings plc, the site has students flats, cinema, gym and swimming pool and secure bicycle storage; a 93-bed hotel and various retail spaces. CLS Holdings tasked the electrical systems installer ABCA Systems with providing a fire alarm and disabled refuge system across the site. ABCA chose Eaton products.
Philip Miller, Managing Director of ABCA Systems said: “We’ve worked with Eaton on a number of projects in the past and the support we receive, as well as the solutions offered, are second to none. So when it came to making the decision about which provider of fire systems to use for this new facility, the decision was a very easy one to make.”
To support business continuity, the Spring Mews project required a bespoke fire alarm with a range of cause-and-effect programming to meet the differing detection and alarm requirements for areas including permanent or temporary accommodation, retail units and business premises.
ABCA fitted 14 of Eaton’s CF3000 – an intelligent addressable control panel – throughout the multiple-use premises. Mike Slater, Sales Account Manager at Eaton, said: “We recommended these specific addressable control panels to ABCA Systems due to their sophisticated functionality with simple operation. Additionally, their aesthetically pleasing design fits in perfectly within the new luxury facilities.”
The advantage of an addressable panel, compared with a conventional panel, is according to the makers that it pinpoints the particular alarm that has been activated, which speeds the process of detecting the source of a suspected fire. The CF3000 panels use soft addressing to decrease installation time as well as the potential for error associated with manual addressing, which limit costs for the business owner. It can operate as a standalone panel or as part of a networked system. Programming options allow configurable control over whether messages from specific panels are sent around the network or remain local, to avoid unnecessary disruption to other building occupants.
An array of fire ancillaries were also installed, including a ‘bell tone’ electronic sounder, developed specifically for Spring Mews.
“The installation process was fast paced and no challenges were encountered during it,” added Philip Miller. “Although we had a few difficulties due to putting a two year programme into one, the panels worked well throughout and Eaton was there every step of the way to ensure everything ran smoothly.” Visit: www.cooperfire.com and www.abcasystems.co.uk.
