Advanced set to offer fire safety guidance at UK Construction Week

As a company, Advanced welcomed the amended Approved Document B of the Building Regulations, published back in June, since it offers new improvements to fire safety guidance to ensure tall buildings are made safer in England. A “significant” addition to said document is the mandatory requirement from December this year for new residential developments over 18 metres in height to incorporate a BS 8629 evacuation alert system, offering clarity for those involved in the design or construction of residential developments.

An evacuation alert system is vital to help Fire and Rescue Services personnel inform residents of a change in evacuation strategy during an incident. This affords firefighters an additional tool to use on the ground alongside existing methods of evacuation, thereby improving safety for residents.

In order to comply with the amended Part B, an evacuation alert system should be provided in accordance with the BS 8629 Code of Practice for the Design, Installation, Commissioning, and Maintenance of Evacuation Alert Systems for Use by Fire and Rescue Services in England.

Ken Bullock (pictured), business development manager for evacuation alert systems at Advanced, said: “We are delighted to be exhibiting at UK Construction Week and happy to be able to discuss with visitors how the amendments to Part B of the Building Regulations will affect them. We welcomed the amended Part B of the Building Regulations and the clarity it affords fire safety. Evacuation alert systems afford Fire and Rescue Services a valuable tool which allows them to evacuate residents at risk in a safer and managed way.”

Bullock continued: “We appreciate that new regulation can be confusing, so we carefully designed our EvacGo solution to take away the hard work for building owners, end users and front line Fire and Rescue Services personnel. We can also offer a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) presentation on evacuation planning and the BS 8629 Code of Practice. The CPD is suitable for consultants, fire risk assessors and anyone who needs a better understanding of the requirements of the British Standards Institution’s BS 8629 Code of Practice.”

Manual controls

Advanced’s EvacGo evacuation alert system will be showcased on the company’s stand at UK Construction Week. Developed with the input of fire industry leaders, the panel combines EN54-2 and EN54-4 approved MxPro 5 technology with clear and easy-to-use manual controls to ensure firefighters can quickly and effectively identify and operate alert sounders in order to support the safe evacuation of occupants from tall residential buildings.

EvacGo provides a simple ‘at-a-glance’ overview of a building’s evacuation alert zones along with LED indication and manual toggle-switch controls for operating evacuation alert devices in each zone.

The panels are available in 8, 16, 24 or 32 ‘firefighter evacuation alert area’ variants and expandable from one to four loops – or even further – when using Advanced’s robust and fault-tolerant network.

Advanced is currently one of only a handful of manufacturers to offer an evacuation alert system housed within a box specially designed by Gerda Security to meet stringent antitamper standards. The security-rated enclosure meets the STS 205 Class BR2 security rating and features a patented BS EN 1303-compliant lock. This minimises tampering and restricts access to Fire and Rescue Services personnel only, who are able to access the controls using a patented key as stipulated in the BS 8629 Code of Practice.