Five residential tower blocks in Wapping, London have upgraded their fire safety with Kentec wireless fire detection systems installed by DPJ Fire and Security.
The mixed-use luxury and affordable housing residential complexes include an 18-storey tower, with over 380 dwellings across 7,500 square metres. They are owned by property developer, Ballymore.
K-Mesh, a wireless fire detection system and Taktis, both products manufactured by Kentec Electronics, have been installed by Kentec Installation Partner DPJ Fire and Security.
A wireless solution was proposed because of the ease and speed that the installation could be carried out, offering less disruption to the occupants of the site, and because of its appealing aesthetics. The number of floors meant running cables was impractical and so the wireless solution avoided costly builders work and firestopping.
K-Mesh’s SmartGuide technology is also designed to support safe and strategic building evacuation and means the fire detection system can be easily converted to an EVAC evacuation system if required.
Networked to K-Mesh, the system features five of Kentec’s 4-loop Taktis control panels, and more than 750 devices, including wireless heat sensors and sounders, and optical smoke detectors.
Paul Fitzsimmons, Account Director of DPJ Fire and Security Ltd, adds on the SmartGuide technology: “It wirelessly utilises sound, light and voice command functionality to provide clear evacuation instructions. And because it can be easily converted to an EVAC evacuation system it provides a future-proofed solution,” he says.
K-Mesh was said to be chosen because of its wireless network performance using a self-healing dynamic Mesh network, designed to provide a robust wireless network giving confidence and assurance that fire incidents are detected and communicated immediately. A wireless translator module, which sits at the centre of the K-Mesh system, is hard-wired to the fire alarm control panel loop and communicates continuously with the wireless devices.
The detection range also provides automatic detection and includes Optical, Thermal and combined Optical and Thermal detectors which can respond to a wide spectrum of fire events, whilst minimising false alarms, explains Kentec.
Derrick Hall, Director of Sales at Kentec Electronics, says K-Mesh overcomes all the traditional barriers to using wireless systems: “It has a seven-to-ten-year battery life, which is approximately twice that of the industry standard,” he explains.
“The advanced technology is also fully expandable, and configurable from anything from two to 2,000 devices so even the largest, most disparate and complex sites can now be protected wirelessly. It provides an easy-to-install and highly practical wireless solution, ideal for residential complexes.”
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