Apollo Holds Court in Buckinghamshire
An Apollo-based fire detection system has been installed to
protect people and premises at the Magistrate's Court in Milton
Keynes, Buckinghamshire. Representing a total upgrade of the
previous fire protection to meet L1 requirements, the new
intelligent fire system was installed by Network Security &
Fire, based in Basingstoke.
The Milton Keynes Bench was founded in 1979 from an amalgamation
of the former local benches at Fenny Stratford, Stony Stratford and
Newport Pagnell. The Magistrate's Court is housed in purpose-built
premises in the centre of Milton Keynes, which includes a public
area, custody suite and six courtrooms, as well as offices for
court administrators and the probation service.
Fire detection challenges
The original, single loop addressable fire system had been
renewed at various points previously, but was no longer fit for
purpose. The Estates team specified a new analogue addressable
system with high sensitivity smoke detection in the custody suite,
together with an automated Voice Alarm (VA) system.
There was no possibility of closing the building while the
upgrade was made, so installation of the new fire equipment had to
take place out of hours. This was not the only challenge on the
project, as John Angell, Contract Manager, Network Fire &
Security, explains:
"In addition to limited access, we had to take into
consideration the need to rewire the vast majority of the system.
This was compounded by the design of the building, which features
plasterboard ceilings, rather than suspended ceilings, and made
access to voids for cable-laying quite difficult.
"Within the courtrooms themselves, we also had to take into
account the high ceiling heights. The roof void in each court has a
central dome that rises two storeys at its highest point. This was
not only an issue during installation but could have restricted
access for essential maintenance. We were able to overcome this
aspect by positioning the fire detectors around the coffer that
surrounds the central roof dome."
Fire system solutions
Network Security & Fire recommended a fire system based on
Apollo's Discovery distributed-intelligence technology to meet the
requirements for the Magistrate's Court. Around 260 Discovery
devices were used in total, including optical smoke and heat
detectors, loop-powered beacons, manual call points and interfaces.
The fire system is configured around three networked Advanced
Electronics control panels.
The modular voice alarm system comprises three master and five
slave units. It is pre-programmed with a series of automated
messages that are activated in the event of an alert, but there is
also an option for manual intervention to broadcast bespoke
messages using a microphone.
Explaining his company's specification, John Angell says: "We
would always recommend Apollo as part of a fire detection solution.
Their open protocol allows us to choose exactly the right equipment
for a project and tailor the solution to the client - in this case
enabling us to select the compatible Advanced Electronics control
panels and distributed voice alarm system. Apollo's Discovery range
was perfect for this application thanks to its proven reliability
in the field and advanced features that minimise false alarm
incidents."
If an alarm is raised by devices within the courtroom areas,
evacuation procedures are initiated in these zones and an alert is
transmitted to the custody suite. Equally, should an incident be
detected in the custody suite this area will be evacuated
immediately and the court areas are put on stand-by.
John Angell concludes: "Considering all the challenges regarding
the 'live' site and other installation restrictions, this project
went incredibly smoothly. We have been able to equip the
Magistrate's Court with a modern fire detection system that is
reliable, easy to use and flexible enough to meet current and
future requirements."
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