Fire safety advice on offer from Advanced at London Build 2022

The amended Approved Document B of the Building Regulations was published back in June and offers improvements to fire safety guidance to ensure tall buildings are made safer in England. This includes the “significant” addition to the document of the mandatory requirement for new residential developments over 18 metres in height to incorporate a BS 8629 evacuation alert system.

As a company, Advanced welcomes these improvements and will be on hand at London Build to help those involved in the design or construction of residential developments by explaining the changes relating to evacuation alert systems and offering guidance on how to comply.

An evacuation alert system is vital for helping Fire and Rescue Services personnel when it comes to informing residents of a change in evacuation strategy during an incident. This affords the Fire and Rescue Services 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 BS 8629, which is the Code of Practice for the Design, Installation, Commissioning and Maintenance of Evacuation Alert Systems for Use by Fire and Rescue Services in England.

Impact of the amendments

Ken Bullock, business development manager for evacuation alert systems at Advanced, informed Fire Safety Matters: “We’re looking forward to exhibiting at London Build. We are keen explain to companies about how the amendments to the Building Regulations impact evacuation alert systems. With the deadline for compliance now fast approaching, it’s absolutely essential that anyone involved in the design or construction of residential developments knows what they need to do.”

Bullock continued: “Evacuation alert systems are valuable tools that allow the Fire and Rescue Services to evacuate residents at risk in a safer and managed way. Our own EvacGo evacuation alert system has been carefully designed to meet BS 8629 and take away the hard work for building owners, end users and, importantly, front line Fire and Rescue Services personnel. Our aim is to offer peace of mind for ‘Responsible Persons’. By choosing this system, they’re complying with the Building Regulations and keeping residents safe.”

Safe evacuation

The EvacGo evacuation alert system will be showcased on Advanced’s stand at London Build. The panel, which was developed alongside fire industry leaders, combines EN54-2 and EN54-4-approved MxPro 5 technology with clear and easy-to-use manual controls in order to ensure firefighters can quickly and effectively identify and operate alert sounders 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 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 anti-tamper standards. The EvacGo panel is housed inside a robust, security-rated enclosure meeting the STS 205 Class BR2 security rating with 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).

Dynamic safety signage

Also on display will be Advanced’s Dynamic Safety Signage and the MxPro 5. The former comprises part of Advanced’s emergency lighting range and is proven to make building evacuations faster and safer.

In emergency situations, any lack of information and confusion means that individuals can make poor decisions. Dynamic safety signage uses green moving and pulsing LED arrows to clearly indicate safe exits and red LED crosses to boldly show ‘no-go’ areas. This distinctive indication supports effective escape and avoids congestion at building exits.

Dynamic safety signage is ideal for those settings (eg university campuses, hospitals, stadiums and transport hubs) where large numbers of people may be unfamiliar with emergency escape routes. The new range of signage provides different tiers of functionality, rendering the solution extremely versatile in terms of meeting requirements across a wide range of sites and scenarios.

In addition, visitors will be able to see Advanced’s high-performance, fault-tolerant MxPro 5 analogue addressable fire panels certified by FM Approvals to the EN 54 standard. Offering 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 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, renders MxPro 5 customisable to almost any application.

To combat false and unwanted alarms, AlarmCalm is available as standard on MxPro 5 multiprotocol fire panels, duly delivering “unprecedented control” of verification and investigation delays.

*For further information visit Advanced’s website at https://uk.advancedco.com/