The Admiral Lord Nelson School in Portsmouth has successfully implemented a comprehensive life safety solution to enhance security for its students and staff spread across three floors.
With its diverse range of specialist classrooms, the school required a state-of-the-art system capable of evolving alongside its growth and ensuring robust safety measures beyond just fire detection.
Installation and compliance
SFA Fire & Security was selected to oversee the entire process from design to installation, ensuring seamless service and compliance. Drawing on 26 years of experience and their in-depth knowledge of Hochiki products, SFA provided a tailored, high-quality life safety system to meet the specific requirements of the school.
Addressing challenges
The project faced challenges due to the school's varied room types, such as laboratory kiln rooms, the atrium, and the sports hall, each needing customised solutions. Conducting installations in a live educational environment required strategic scheduling during summer and half-term breaks to prevent disruptions. This approach allowed for efficient progress, including using pre-stage device addressing.
A particular challenge was the school's expansive glass-fronted atrium, where conventional point detection was ineffective. The installation of Hochiki’s FIREbeam Xtra provided an ideal solution, offering comprehensive coverage with enhanced sensitivity and reduced false alarms, effectively detecting smoke across large spaces.
Integrated solution
Hochiki’s ESP protocol enabled seamless integration across all teaching blocksThe deployment of Hochiki's ESP open protocol facilitated seamless integration and compatibility across the school's multiple teaching blocks. This comprehensive system, combining Hochiki products with an addressable Advanced fire control panel, allowed for efficient fire management and maintenance. The system enabled precise monitoring, maintenance, and location identification during incidents.
Strategically placed heat and multi-sensors catered to the unique requirements of different rooms. Multi-sensors in science rooms distinguished between genuine fire risks and false alarms, while heat sensors in kitchens detected significant temperature changes, indicative of potential fires rather than routine activities.
Enhanced safety features
Working closely with the school's management, EN54 approved tones and patterns were programmed into system sounders to create distinct alarm types, aiding in situation identification for class changes, lockdowns, and fire incidents.
This feature enhances building safety by enabling quick and appropriate responses to various alarms, reducing confusion and evacuation time.
Testimony to reliability
Naomi Fell, Project Director at SFA, praised the reliability of Hochiki products: "We have worked with Hochiki products over many years in various projects and environments and their reliability is top-class." She highlighted the ease of integration and operation of the ESP open protocol system, which is designed to be trusted and used for years to come, providing future-proof safety solutions for the school.
By combining Hochiki's advanced products with SFA's expertise, the Admiral Lord Nelson School now features a high-quality life safety system. This system is designed to evolve, ensuring the ongoing safety and protection of both students and staff well into the future.
The Admiral Lord Nelson School, in Portsmouth, safeguards students and staff across three floors daily. With specialist classrooms spanning an extensive area, the Admiral Lord Nelson School needed more than just a system to detect fire; they needed a modern and resilient life safety solution that upgrades alongside the school.
SFA Fire & Security were chosen to provide end-to-end delivery from design to installation, for single partner accountability, guaranteeing full compliance and a streamlined process. Backed by 26 years of experience and their substantial knowledge of Hochiki products, they delivered a robust, high-quality life safety system tailored to the school’s needs.
Challenges
SFA encountered some challenges with the variation of specialised rooms in the school, such as the laboratory kiln room, atrium and the sports hall. Each space required a tailored solution that prioritised staff and student safety, without compromising functionality.
The project’s daily routine created numerous tests for SFA. In a live educational setting, installation work was going to be unavoidably invasive, and with strict deadlines, the project had to be completed in staggered stages, potentially delaying completion.
To counteract this, SFA scheduled work during the summer holidays and the following half-term break so neither students nor the installation team were interrupted. This approach delivered rapid on-site progress utilising pre-stage device addressing.
Another challenge was the school’s spacious glass-fronted atrium, with its large coverage making traditional point detection impractical. Hochiki’s FIREbeam Xtra was installed as the perfect solution for its reliable coverage at height across the space; its enhanced sensitivity and false alarm reduction efficiently detects large volumes of smoke in open areas.
Solution
Hochiki’s ESP open protocol is a flexible solution, providing flawless integration and broad compatibility. The school needed an easy-to-maintain system that could span over several teaching blocks for full fire coverage.
The combination of Hochiki products with an addressable Advanced fire control panel created a comprehensive fire management and maintenance system that allowed the school and engineers to easily monitor devices, complete maintenance and, in the event of an incident, pinpoint the exact location of a fire.
SFA strategically used a range of heat and multi-sensors to combat the specialised requirements of each room. Multi-sensors were deliberately positioned in the science rooms due to the variety of gases and smoke generated from chemical reactions during lessons; multi-sensors can better discriminate between genuine fire risks and transient signals from false alarms.
Heat sensors were intentionally used in the food technology rooms and kitchens to recognise significant changes in temperature, which can indicate a real fire, rather than general cooking activities.
Results
Working closely with the school management, bespoke EN54 approved tones and patterns were determined and then programmed into the system’s sounders, so that all alarm types were unique and distinctive from each other.
The different tones were used for situation identification, such as class change, lockdown and fire incidents, enhancing building safety. This allows building occupants to respond quickly and appropriately to each alarm, minimising confusion and evacuation time.
Combining expertise
“We have worked with Hochiki products over many years in various projects and environments and their reliability is top-class.” said Naomi Fell, Project Director at SFA.
“Despite the tight deadlines, Hochiki’s ESP open protocol and versatile product range made it easy to integrate into the existing fire system, and easy for the school to operate. It’s a system that they can trust and use for years to come. We’re very proud to have been able to future-proof the safety of the school in this way.”
Combining Hochiki's products with SFA's expertise ensures the Admiral Lord Nelson school now has a high-quality life safety system that can evolve over time, keeping its students and staff protected into the foreseeable future.
