Correcting the Coverage.
An issue spotted while our team was already on site led to a full review, redesign and upgrade of a fire alarm system that was not providing the protection required across a busy Southampton hospitality venue.
A problem noticed during another job became a life-safety project in its own right.
Our team was already completing minor refurbishment works at a busy Southampton hospitality venue when a project supervisor noticed that the existing fire alarm system had been wired using the wrong cabling and was not providing adequate coverage across the whole property.
Rather than treating it as somebody else’s problem, we arranged for one of our test engineers to inspect the installation. That review identified further departures from BS 5839 and confirmed that the existing system did not meet the requirements set out by the Fire Risk Assessment.
The latest Fire Risk Assessment required an L3 category system. Because building modifications were also taking place, the design first had to be checked against the proposed layout, signed off by the relevant stakeholders and coordinated with approved cable routes before installation began.
The Fire Risk Assessment set the requirement. The building shaped the solution.
The latest Fire Risk Assessment identified an L3 system as the required level of protection. The challenge was not simply to add devices, but to make sure the revised design worked with the building modifications already being completed elsewhere in the property.
The proposed design was coordinated with the refurbishment layout, agreed with the relevant stakeholders and reviewed internally before installation. Cable routes were also signed off by our Health & Safety Team so the corrective works could progress in a controlled and considered way.
The system had to satisfy the required design category in the real building, and then prove that performance through testing and commissioning.
From identified defect to compliant installation.
Once the design had been agreed, the corrective works involved significantly extending the detection and alarm provision across the property. The installation was not limited to replacing a panel: additional detection, sounders and supporting devices were required to deliver the intended coverage.
The scope grew from testing, not guesswork.
The revised design required a substantial extension of the existing system. The installation included 23 additional smoke detectors, two additional heat detectors, 12 sounders, a remote indicator, a replacement panel with the correct number of zones and two door-hold devices.
Each element formed part of the same objective: make the fire alarm system match the protection required by the Fire Risk Assessment and provide appropriate coverage throughout the property. Installation was then followed by full testing rather than assuming that the design alone guaranteed the result.
That final testing proved essential. One bedroom did not achieve the required 75 dB sound level at the bedhead because a newly installed fire door sat between the room and the existing alarm device. The issue was reported, an additional device was instructed and the system was tested again.
The final check found one more issue — exactly what commissioning is for.
Once the new equipment had been installed, the system was tested throughout the property. One bedroom no longer achieved the required 75 dB sound level at the bedhead because a newly installed fire door reduced the audibility from the existing alarm device.
The issue was raised with the contract administrator, an additional device was instructed and installed, and the system was tested again. Only once the final test demonstrated the required performance was the fire alarm installation handed over.
A system brought back into compliance — and properly proven.
What began as an observation during unrelated refurbishment works became a complete corrective fire alarm project. The original installation was reviewed, redesigned around the Fire Risk Assessment requirement and upgraded with the additional devices needed to provide the required level of protection.
Just as importantly, commissioning was used to prove the system in the finished property. When the sound-level test identified a problem in one bedroom, the project was not treated as complete until the additional device had been installed and the system had passed re-testing.
The customer was left with a compliant system and the corrective works were completed and handed over within the expected programme alongside the original refurbishment works.
Life-safety work carried through to completion.
More property challenges, properly solved.
Explore more examples of hospitality, commercial property and specialist project work delivered by the Hi-Tech team.
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