MxPRO 5 fire panels safeguard £92 million student accommodation project

The 13 networked MxPro 5 panels have been installed to protect the student accommodation towers that vary in height between eight and 18 storeys. The blocks themselves are designed to provide more than 800 student bedrooms as well as ground floor fitness facilities and amenities for the Students’ Union.

Responsible for the fire system design, supply and commissioning was West Sussex-based Southern Fire Alarms Ltd, who also installed the equipment alongside M&E engineer J&B Hopkins. The fire system is integrated with multiple third party interfaces, among them automatic opening vents, sprinklers and access control.

Careful consideration was given to the complex ‘cause and effect’-style programming that needed to be applied across the site. Each building is configured with a six-minute investigation period, with sounders on the floor of origin initiated after a single device activation.

A single subsequent device activation will escalate into full evacuation of the specific tower. A master key switch has also been introduced to allow for full evacuation of all towers if required.

Network integrity

David Fell, sales director at Southern Fire Alarms Ltd, said: “The integrity of the network was a key concern for our client. Many solutions appear to allow extensive ‘cause and effect’. However, in larger networked sites, such as the five student accommodation buildings at Moulsecoomb Campus, some systems can fall short of attaining adequate performance levels over longer distances.”

Fell continued: “Advanced’s solutions were Southern Fire Alarms Ltd’s first choice for this large-scale installation. We rely on Advanced’s products to deliver powerful ‘cause and effect’ that can be easily programmed and maintained, carrying all the required inputs and outputs for third party systems. This ensures the safety of the hundreds of students living on-site.”

MxPro 5 is one of the leading multiprotocol fire system solutions and certified by FM Approvals to the EN 54 standard. It offers customers a choice of four detector protocols and a completely open installer network, backed up by free training and support. MxPro 5 panels 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 a wide range of peripheral, make MxPro 5 suitable for almost any application.

Range of options

Amanda Hope, UK fire business development manager at Advanced, observed: “The sophisticated ‘cause and effect’ programming that our MxPro 5 panels offer brings a range of verification and investigation delay options into play that can significantly reduce false alarms.”

Hope concluded: “The project at Moulsecoomb Campus involving Southern Fire Alarms Ltd, our long-standing and trusted installer partner, is yet another example of our solutions delivering great value, reliability and peace of mind for the customer.”