Apollo is centre stage at Broadway Plaza
Complex fire detection requirements at Broadway Plaza,
Birmingham, UK, have been resolved using an Apollo-based
intelligent fire detection system. Leader Systems took up the fire
detection challenge at the £80 million retail, leisure and
residential development. The project included the installation of
approximately 1,000 Apollo XP95 devices across three main fire
detection systems and the development of some bespoke interface
units to enable the integration of tenant fire detection
systems.
Broadway highlights
Broadway Plaza, Birmingham, covers a five acre site in the town
centre formerly occupied by the city's Children's Hospital. The
complex is arranged over six levels, three of which are used for
underground car parking. The remaining three levels contain around
30 retail/leisure units, 150 luxury apartments located in four
different areas around the complex and a 12-screen AMC cinema.
Tenants include an Esporta Health and Fitness Club, a 20-lane
Bowlplex and a number of restaurants such as Frankie and Benny's,
Subway and Outback Steakhouse.
Diverse tenant activities in turn mean that the fire detection
requirements vary enormously, as Tony Weaver of Leader Systems
explained. "It was apparent from the outset that Broadway Plaza
would need a multi-stage evacuation strategy," he said. "We worked
closely with the landlord, client end-user, consultant, local Fire
Officer, principal building contractor and mechanical and
electrical contractor EIC Ltd to formulate an appropriate fire
strategy for the development." Leader Systems and EIC Ltd took
specific responsibility for the technical issues involved.
The end-user and consultant placed a high degree of importance
on the Landlord system being reliable, easy to use, easy to
maintain and flexible. Leader Systems recommended the use of an
open protocol system based on Apollo's proven XP95 technology to
meet these requirements. Another key consideration was the
provision of accurate information about system activations to an
attending fire crew prior to them entering the complex. Points of
entry were agreed with the Fire Officer and fully functional
repeater panels with weatherproof enclosures were fitted at each
designated entrance.
Zoning of the car parking levels within the fire alarm system
was a critical issue. The sprinkler system and the air handling
systems were also divided into zones, so it was important to set
some common boundaries within which all three systems would
function harmoniously, providing the end-user with something close
to a common zoning plan that was easy to interpret.
Fire system specification
Broadway Plaza was equipped with three distinct fire detection
systems: one system to protect the cinema, a second system to
govern the residential areas and the master Plaza Landlord fire
detection system. The cinema has a six-loop system with a special
LED mimic assembly and a multi-zone voice alarm facility. It
incorporates over 350 Apollo XP95 devices, including sixteen smoke
detectors fitted to duct probes. The fire detection system for the
residential areas comprises four Advanced Electronics MX4202
analogue addressable control panels with pulse input monitoring and
over 200 XP95 devices.
The main Plaza Landlord system is centred around a six-loop
MultiIfax analogue addressable control panel that governs
approximately 150 Apollo XP95 intelligent fire detectors and 50
manual call points. The Landlord system also includes over 150
interface units that enable it to communicate with a number of
third party services, such as heating and ventilating equipment,
building management systems, sprinklers and various zone-based air
handling control systems.
Special
relationships
Designed in accordance with BS5839, the Landlord fire detection
system was required to send and receive Alert (stage 1) and
Evacuate (stage 2) signals from each tenant and from adjoining
units. It was imperative that the client should be able to take
full control of any evacuation, wherever it may occur in the
complex. The evacuation process was therefore split into six timed
phases with the client being able to stop progression from one
phase to the next at any time.
It was decided that any tenant or unit receiving an Alert signal
from the Landlord should pulse their bells or sounders, or
broadcast the relevant voice alarm message. This posed a potential
problem because no-one could predict at the specification stage who
would occupy each unit or what type of fire alarm system they would
install.
Where a tenant indicated that they would use an analogue
addressable fire alarm system with voice alarm, Leader Systems was
able simply to use Apollo XP95 Input/Output units to relay the
signals. However, the fire system specification had to allow for
the fact that some, if not all, of the smaller retail units were
likely to go down the conventional fire alarm route and some of the
larger units would be likely to use analogue addressable systems
with loop-powered or conventional sounders.
Leader Systems was able to meet these complex requirements
thanks to the specification of an open protocol fire detection
system. The open protocol enabled Leader to work with the panel
manufacturer, Advanced Electronics, to find appropriate technical
solutions.
Apollo's digital open protocol has been available for almost 20
years, since the company introduced its first range of intelligent
fire detectors. The protocol has been extended - once for the XP95
range and once for Discovery - but never modified. This not only
ensures forwards and backwards compatibility between products, it
also encourages the development of synergistic products by other
manufacturers. At Broadway Plaza, the open protocol enabled Leader
Systems to work with panel manufacturer Advanced Electronics to
develop products that would resolve the technical demands of the
fire detection system.
With full access to the Apollo protocol, Leader Systems was able
to develop an appropriate solution to the need for a continuous
and/or pulsing output that could be accepted by a conventional fire
control panel as a Class Change input or similar. For the analogue
addressable systems using loop-powered or conventional sounders,
Leader Systems turned to Advanced Electronics. The company was
already working on ideas for their MX range of panels and accepted
the challenge raised by Broadway Plaza.
The application required an input that was capable of accepting
a pulsing or continuous signal and interpreting it as such to
activate any sounders in the same pattern. Within weeks, Advanced
Electronics had engineered a solution that could be added to any MX
panel with the appropriate software to provide the required
results.
Broadway highlights
The Apollo-based open protocol system at Broadway Plaza has
fulfilled all the requirements demanded of it. Proven in the
marketplace for over 20 years, Apollo's open digital protocol is
extremely reliable. A large number of compatible products continue
to be developed, which gives end-users and specifiers flexibility
of choice. Forwards and backwards compatibility across all products
using Apollo protocol means that upgrading or extending the system
is simple. Using an open protocol fire detection system also
ensured that a collaborative and rapid response was possible in the
development of bespoke solutions to the technical complexities of
the Broadway Plaza site.
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