130 Advanced fire alarm control panels have been chosen to protect one of the UK’s largest acute teaching hospitals.
Selected for their performance, quality and ease of use, 96 intelligent addressable MxPro 5 fire alarm control panels and 34 custom AdSpecials panels have been installed at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, as part of a comprehensive upgrade.
As a centre of clinical excellence, Wythenshawe Hospital, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, has over 5,500 staff providing district general hospital and specialist tertiary services to the local community and the wider population of the North West of England, so fire system reliability was a critical part of the specification.
Manchester-based Grainger Fire & Security, responsible for the 18-month project, chose Advanced’s industry-leading fire protection for its robustness, versatility and ease of installation in complex and critical sites.
The system changeover to Advanced involved the installation of new network cable across a live hospital environment as well as BMS integration, and the introduction of a graphics package to provide visual representation of the fire system to end users. The 34 custom-engineered, 6-loop panels with 600 zonal LEDs included in the installation were designed and manufactured by Advanced’s AdSpecials department. The network of Advanced panels work with over 20,000 devices using Apollo and Hochiki protocol.
In addition, a full design review of the hospital’s existing false alarm management strategy has taken place to ensure that the new system is programmed to effectively reduce unwanted alarms.
Will Taylor, Service & Small Works Manager at Grainger Fire & Security, said:
“As our preferred panel choice, we have recommended Advanced for a number of years. Its MxPro 5 panels are both easy to use and install and offer the features required to competently protect the hospital and its multiple buildings that each have individual cause and effect programming.”
The upgrade to the system also sees the introduction of ipGateway, Advanced’s fully interactive internet portal that presents the user with a detailed description of the current status of the fire system. The ability to remotely interrogate the fire system is a valuable benefit for both the end user and Grainger Fire and Security, who are able to pre-empt problems. Not only does this provide additional peace of mind for hospital users, it also saves time, money and inconvenience by reducing unnecessary service visits to site.
Neil Parkin, Advanced’s Regional Sales Manager for the North, said:
“The cause and effect programming capabilities of our panels provide tangible benefits to customers when protecting large-scale sites such as hospitals, university campuses or airport terminals.
“With the system at Wythenshawe Hospital up and running, features such as AlarmCalm, our built-in false alarm management and reduction software, work to radically reduce the number of unwanted alarms and the impact they have on patients and staff. It’s a pleasure to be able to support Grainger Fire & Security on this project, and I have complete confidence that our products will provide the dependable solution required.”