Advanced fire panels selected for site-wide system upgrade at major UK hospital

As a centre of clinical excellence, Wythenshawe Hospital, which is part of the 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. Necessarily, fire system reliability is a critical part of the specification.

Manchester-based Grainger Fire & Security, which is responsible for delivering the 18-month project, selected Advanced’s fire protection for its ease of installation in complex and critical sites.

The system changeover to Advanced will involve the installation of new network cable across a live hospital environment as well as BMS integration alongside the introduction of a graphics package designed to provide visual representation of the fire system to end users.

The 34 custom-engineered, six-loop panels with 600 zonal LEDs included in the installation will be designed and manufactured by Advanced’s AdSpecials Department. The network of Advanced panels will work with over 20,000 devices using Apollo and Hochiki protocols.

In addition, a full design review of the hospital’s existing false alarm management strategy will take place to ensure that the new system is programmed to effectively reduce unwanted alarms.

Superior programming and networking capabilities

Will Taylor, service and small works manager at Grainger Fire & Security, explained to Fire Safety Matters: “As Wythenshawe Hospital is one of the largest teaching hospitals in the UK, we needed a solution that offered superior programming and networking capabilities, ensuring the highest levels of protection across the site at all times.”

He added: “As our preferred panel choice, we’ve recommended Advanced’s solutions for a number of years. The company’s 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 will also see the introduction of ipGateway, Advanced’s interactive Internet portal that presents the end 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 & Security, who will be able to pre-empt problems.

Not only will this provide additional peace of mind for hospital users, but it will also save time, money and inconvenience by reducing unnecessary service visits to site.

Neil Parkin, Advanced’s regional sales manager for the North, observed: “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.”

Parkin went on to state: “Once the system at Wythenshawe Hospital is up-and-running, features such as AlarmCalm, our built-in false alarm management and reduction software, will work to radically reduce the number of unwanted alarms and the negative impact they have on patients and staff. It’s a pleasure to be able to support Grainger Fire & Security on this project and we have complete confidence that our products will provide the dependable solution required.”

Certified by FM Approvals

MxPro 5 was recently certified by FM Approvals to EN 54. It offers customers a choice of two panel ranges, four detector protocols and a completely open installer network, all supported by free training and technical back-up.

MxPro panels can be used in single-loop, single-panel format or easily configured into high-speed networks of up to 200 panels covering huge areas. MxPro’s ease of installation and configuration, as well as its wide peripheral range, make it customisable to suit almost any application.