KwikHEAT - Practical Facilities Management

NIA invests in AdvancedFire DetectionAdvanced Electronicsintelligent control panelsare at the heart of a large firedetection system upgrade atthe National Indoor Arena(NIA) in Birmingham.The upgrade was installed by BDSFire & Security Limited and consistedof six Advanced Mx-4400 fullynetworkedfire control panelsinterfaced to 1000+ Apollo Discoveryloop devices, including fire sensors,call points and I/O. In addition to theMx-4400 control panels the systemutilised networked repeater panelsand Advanced’s PC-NeT Graphicssoftware. The extensive cause-andeffectprogramming in the Mx-4400panels was used to control over 100loop driven I/O devices interfaced toautomatic smoke doors, extract fans,catering gas valves and accessAlton Towers rides highwith Evac+ChairLeading evacuation chairmanufacturer Evac+ChairInternational has justprovided the UK’s numberone theme park resort AltonTowers with a number ofevacuation chairs for someof the park’s top attractions.Alton Towers aims to providecomprehensive disabled access at itsresort, and Evac+Chairs have beeninstalled on the rides Spinball Whizzer,Oblivion, Corkscrew and Air in order tosafely evacuate mobility-impairedvisitors in the event of an emergency.Linda Hoskins, health and safetyhealth & safetycontrol doors. The fire system wasinterfaced to the PA/VA system to forma fully integrated fire detection solutionto ensure staff and visitors are quicklyand safely evacuated in the event of afire.The PC-NeT Graphics software runson a standard PC connected to thefire network. It is a highly configurablesystem allowing the use of site maps,images and text to display a visualrepresentation of the fire system to theend-user. Any device can be isolatedor its analogue value obtained bysimply clicking an icon on the screen.Comprehensive event and alarmhistory logs can be viewed and reportseasily generated for analysis andauditing. As the use of the NIAchanges from event to event it issometimes necessary to change thedetection mode of a group of firesensors to reflect the changedenvironment. This can be achievedquickly and easily from the PC-NeTsoftware without the need toprogramme any of the fire panels.The six Mx-4400 panels areinterconnected using Ad-NeT,Advanced’s fire network. The networkcan be configured to allow the interconnectionof up to 200 panels(nodes) in a fault tolerantconfiguration.Reader Reply No: 112029coach at Alton Towers commented,“Alton Towers makes every effort toensure that the resort, and wherepossible the rides, are accessible toall our visitors. We looked towardsEvac+Chair as part of the solution tothis. We have installed Evac+Chairson four popular rides, which willenable us to evacuate disabled guestsoff the rides should the need arise.”The Evac+Chair enables a single userto evacuate a person of up to 150kgquickly and easily down a flight ofstairs. This is achieved by intelligentdesign using continuous belts toprovide controlled descent over stairnosings in proportion to passengerweight. The chairs can be used oneven steep stairways, with an angle ofdescent of up to 40°. A slimlineEvac+Chair model is also available foruse on narrow stairs.The theme park’s organisers are verypleased with the chairs, with LindaHoskins adding, “We have been veryhappy with the service provided byEvac+Chair. We can now restassured that all our guests, bothdisabled and able-bodied, can beevacuated safely from the rides.”Reader Reply No: 112030CONTROLYOUR EMERGENCYVOICE COMMUNICATIONSFROM ONE SOURCE?SOUND ADVICE.CALLVISIT+44 (0) 1892 664422 www.baldwinboxall.co.ukVIGIL OmniCare ~ the addressable emergencyvoice communication system that allows disabledrefuge, fire telephones and disabled toilet alarmremote units to be connected to just one system.So, there’s no need to panic, VIGIL OmniCarecovers everything you need from a voicecommunication system.Call us on +44 (0) 1892 664422 or visitwww.baldwinboxall.co.uk to find out how we can help.39RR: 112026