Housebuilder adds fire sprinkler system to
new homes
Fine spray provides instant fire suppression
At its Willbrook development in Wentworth, Surrey, custom
housebuilder Belvedere has specified a highly effective advanced fire
sprinkler system that employs immediate targeted fire suppression. By
providing a fine water spray to a localised area, the system will
typically use less than a tenth of the water that the fire services
would use to attack a fire.
The system, provided by
Firefighter Limited, will contain the spread of fire with the reduced
risk of water damage. Fire detection and suppression with this system
is immediate, whereas the average response time for a fire service
callout is between seven and 15 minutes.
In using this system
the housebuilder has been able to introduce a significant amount of
glass into the infrastructure of the building, including glass
balustrades to the staircase and landing, an inspirational floating
glass bathroom and the extensive use of glass doors. Standard
hard-wired smoke detection is also installed.
Keith Da Costa of
Belvedere says: “Belvedere is a pioneering housebuilder and I have no
doubt that this fire system will be widely used in this context. We
have pushed the parameters with the use of fire technology and cutting
edge design and the result is outstanding.”
Architect Stan
Beanland, of Ipswich-based Beanland Associates says: “In the domestic
arena the system Belvedere has selected is the most advanced of its
type and to my knowledge has not been specified before in a single
dwelling."
“The diffused water application allows the
flexibility of the extensive use of glass in doors as an architectural
feature, so, for example, we can design the hallway as a living space
rather than a corridor. The image of sprinklers is that they deluge the
property in water but this is not actually what happens.
“Before
the new legislation, the stairs had to be segregated, now, we can use a
glazed door with a sprinkler device directed on the door instead of a
solid fire door with automatic door closers.”
Press release July 2007 as published in www.4ecotips.com
