Patol enlisted to provide fire protection at flagship Jaguar Land Rover showroom

Jaguar Land Rover is, of course, a name synonymous with quality British manufacturing. That’s reflected in the new Guy Salmon showroom recently completed at Cribbs Causeway and which is already shaping up to become a landmark building in the local Bristol community. Guy Salmon is an appointed representative of the Sytner Group.

One of the main features of the site is the showroom itself. No fewer than 22 new vehicles will be displayed on the ground floor with an additional 20 approved used cars housed on the first floor. A further 70 used cars will be on show outside the building, while the roof of the structure can accommodate anything up to 236 cars.

The site will also encompass a three-lane drive-in bay for servicing customers’ vehicles and a 29-bay workshop.

With such a high value stock on site, in addition to the value of the new building itself, it stands to reason that effective fire protection is an absolutely essential requirement.

Protecting the 3.7-acre site from the threat of fire is obviously a fundamental requirement in the currently ongoing design and construction phases. Main contractor on the project is Midas Construction, with Evans Electrical appointed as the electrical contractor and NACOSS Gold and BAFE SP203-1 approved company Astron Fire and Security tasked with looking after the fire detection system.

Portbury-based Astron Fire & Security has selected an aspirating smoke detection system from Patol to cover the voids on the showroom’s two floors. To ensure that pipework doesn’t impact the building’s interior, aesthetic test points are being employed at the end of each pipe run which also enable ease of access. Two 535-2 detectors, complete with two-zone capability and a powerful fan, protect these areas.

An additional 532 detector is being deployed in a smaller drive-through area of the site.

Addressing the site’s parking areas and the significant number of cars in situ, Astron Astron Fire & Security has also installed Patol’s analogue resettable linear heat detection cable. The latter is a solution widely employed and well proven in car park applications as high air flows and exhaust fumes can be challenging for conventional smoke detectors. This solution offers a cost-effective option which isn’t affected by damp or high humidity and not prone to false alarms.

At the Guy Salmon Bristol site, the linear heat detection cable features test key switches at the end of the lines and LDM-519-LP controllers.