Intelligent Fire Panels Protect Student Village

Photo Caption: The Pavilions student village in Lincoln.

Advanced Electronics intelligent control panels are behind a large fire detection system protecting a new student village in the centre of Lincoln. Capable of accommodating over 1,000 students, ‘The Pavilions’ is now the largest student village in Lincoln, comprising of eight accommodation blocks varying from four to eight storeys in height.

The fire detection system comprises of ten networked Mx-4000 control panels, at least one situated in each accommodation block, interfaced to 1,700 Apollo Discovery fire detectors and devices. The main block also contains a bespoke 500-zone LED mimic panel coupled with a scaled site plan, also supplied by Advanced. This integrated system allows any fire and fault condition, at any location, to be instantly alerted on all the fire panels and site mimic panel. In the event of a fire, the system also sends messages via a site-wide pager system, opens dampers for smoke ventilation, releases magnetic door retainers and initiates lift shutdowns. The system, which was installed by W T Parkers (Project Managed by Steve Johnson) and supplied/commissioned by Leader Systems UK Ltd for the client, The Mainstay Group.

Commenting on the project Paul Whittingham, of managing agents The Mainstay Group said, “The installation, design and implementation phases went very smoothly and the fire detection system has proved to be totally reliable. It has been trouble-free from an operational and safety point of view, which is a credit to all parties concerned.”

The Mx-4000 control panels are configured to enable a phased evacuation of the building ensuring that only residents in the immediate vicinity and above the area of alarm are evacuated first. Should the alarm continue the system will then evacuate the entire floor where the incident occurred, followed by the evacuation of the entire block as necessary. Leader Systems worked closely with Advanced to develop special verification software for all automatic detection within the high risk areas. This is programmed to operate over and above the main phased evacuation programme.

Advanced Electronics manufactures a comprehensive range of intelligent control and indicating panels, software and peripherals for fire detection, smoke control and emergency lighting monitoring. The Mx-4000 family of fire panels is approved to EN54 Parts 2 & 4 and is compatible with both Hochiki and Apollo protocols.