One of the tallest residential buildings, the 26 storey Unity Building in Liverpool, is protected by cutting edge Taurus wireless fire devices from Hyfire.
The complex design of the building, which holds 161 residential units, required an in-depth survey to scope out and plan the new system. The use of wireless devices not only cut cabling requirements by up to 90%, it also allowed the original system, which was installed when the building was built in 2007, to remain fully operational until its replacement, comprising over 1,000 Hyfire devices, was commissioned.
Jamie Dawson, Director at Gemini AMPM, the installers of the new system, commented: “As with many projects these days, this installation was undertaken with the building largely occupied, which meant that an upgrade or expansion of the existing system was not an option. Hyfire wireless devices lend themselves perfectly to developments of this type as they are simple and quick to install. In fact, they can be pre-programmed offsite, so it only takes a few minutes to fit each one, and there is no need to ‘make good’ as you’d have with traditional wired systems.
“The biggest challenge was getting access to the apartments, especially as not all units were occupied. Despite this, our team of eight engineers managed to get the job done in just four weeks. Less time on site and limited contact with residents also delivered benefits in terms of social distancing.”
Hyfire offers the widest range of commercial standard wireless fire devices on the market, ranging from optical, multi-criteria and heat detectors to notification, alarm, interface and control units, all fully certified to EN54. All products offer the highest performance and quality in the industry, and are also fully compliant with BS5839 Part 1. Fire panels are wired via a loop to translators, from which wireless devices can be used on their own to build fully wireless systems of virtually any size, or mixed with Hyfire wired products to provide seamless hybrid solutions, offering total flexibility to specifiers and installers.
Ollie Murray, Hyfire Regional Sales Manager, said: “It was great to work with Gemini AMPM on safeguarding one of the tallest buildings in Liverpool. The layout of the building is highly complex and, although it is relatively new, it was never designed for cable runs in the way a modern office building would be, so Taurus wireless devices offered clear advantages. Instead of wires to every device, the wireless system only required 40 infrastructure devices.”
Developed in Trieste, Italy, the global centre for wireless fire design, Taurus features Pathfinder Technology, which allows the devices to communicate over 1km, point to point in open air, and further where expansion hops are used. Antenna technology has been optimised to allow communication across different frequencies and environments, which means that Taurus can do the job with less equipment and less batteries, thus saving on costs.
Chris Attwater, Regional Manager for the buildings managing agent FirstPort, commented: “This is a large and complex building, so we had concerns when it was suggested that a wireless fire alarm system was the best option to be installed. There were a couple of concerns about wireless signals traveling through the thick concrete sections of the building, but these proved completely groundless. The whole system has worked without a hitch from day one.”