Advanced’s MxPro 5 fire panels installed at Canterbury Student Village

Cloud Student Homes provides students with comfortable and convenient accommodation. No fewer than 17 different types of rooms are available at the Canterbury Student Village, which is easily accessible to three universities: Canterbury Christchurch, the University of Kent and the University of the Creative Arts, as well as Canterbury College.

With fire safety a priority, it was vital to replace the existing fire alarm system in Kentish House, Behn Hall and Tallis Court. However, as the buildings are all occupied, the challenge was to keep the existing fire system working in parallel while the Advanced panels were being installed to ensure occupant protection at all times.

Advanced’s high-performance, fault-tolerant MxPro 5 analogue addressable panels were chosen to provide protection to Category L1 for the student accommodation suites, bedrooms, high-risk areas and plant rooms within two blocks of Kentish House, two blocks of Behn Hall and Tallis Court.

Fire engineering consultant Endeavour Group selected fire safety specialist CSS Ltd as the installation contractor on the Canterbury Student Village fire alarm replacement project. CSS Ltd was responsible for the design, supply, install and handover of the project. The company installed five MxPro 5 four-loop fire panels. These are networked and connected to the Alarm Receiving Centre for fire and rescue monitoring.

All devices are Hochiki with input/output units connected to the existing AOV units throughout. The networked fire system had to integrate with the access control, lift and AOV systems. Endeavour Group reviewed the product design and functionality of the fire system package on the project to ensure that it met the client’s needs.

Open protocol

Project director Tony Leck of CSS Ltd and James Doyle, director of the Endeavour Group, have worked with Advanced’s fire systems on similar projects and agreed that the networked MxPro 5 fire panels would be the best fit for the client.

Lock observed: “Advanced was specified since its solution supports an open protocol and offers a powerful regime for the student accommodation. We also find it an easy system for customers to navigate and use. The panels are proven in the field with CSS Ltd and Endeavour Group using them for a number of years. Advanced MxPro 5 panels are about the best on the market along with the tech support offered by Advanced on installations.”

The Advanced MxPro 5 has a number of features that CSS Ltd finds particularly useful when it comes to installation. These include a built-in multi-meter, which serves to measure all voltages and currents across the fire system in real-time to speed up the commissioning process.

MxPro 5 panels come in four-loop and eight-loop formats to suit CSS Ltd’s needs and customers’ budgets. The MxPro 5 also offers design flexibility since the panels work with leading detector protocols including those of Apollo, Argus, Hochiki and Nittan.

In addition, the panels work with up to 254 devices per loop (depending on the protocol) and offer an overall capacity of 200,000 devices per network. CSS Ltd adds that it’s easy to network up to 200 network nodes and 2,000 fire detection zones and also notes that the panels support wired, wireless and hybrid devices (making installation even more flexible).

Robust protection

Neil Parkin, sales manager at Advanced, commented: “Our MxPro 5 panels are designed to make life as easy as possible, delivering robust protection that offers real peace of mind, all backed up by our highly-rated technical support.”

Cloud Student Homes specialises in operating the running of student accommodation blocks where individuals own the rooms on a leasehold basis. The company manages 3,500 student bed spaces across 21 sites in the UK. Cloud Student Homes now has plans to upgrade all of its sites to accommodate Advanced fire panels.

MxPro 5 is certified by FM Approvals to EN 54 Parts 2 and 4. It offers customers a choice of four detector protocols and a completely open installer network, all backed up by free training and support. MxPro 5 can be used in single-loop, single-panel format or is otherwise easily configured into high-speed networks of up to 200 panels covering huge areas. Ease of installation and configuration, as well as its wide range of peripheral options, make MxPro 5 customisable to almost any application.

The MxPro 5’s stand-out false alarm management capabilities are available as standard. AlarmCalm delivers “unprecedented” control of verification and investigation delays. By dividing sites into virtual false alarm ‘building areas’ independent of fire zones, much more precise control of false alarm management and reduction strategies can be achieved that exactly fits the needs of each part of a building.

An optional AlarmCalm button allows trained occupants to verify if they believe a local fire signal is a false alarm: a highly effective way of eliminating unwanted alarms.

The MxPro 5 BMS/graphics interface allows BMS systems and graphical control PCs to be easily integrated with the MxPro 5 series of fire control panels and remote terminals using a simple RS232 connection. Multiple interfaces can be connected to the network, thereby catering for those sites requiring control from a number of graphical PCs.

*Further information is available online at www.advancedco.com