A school fire-safety upgrade in Stoke-on-Trent used a conventional-to-addressable converter to avoid a full system replacement, with the contractor reporting lower installation work and cost.
North Road Academy, an Islamic primary school, had initially considered replacing its fire system outright. After a site survey, electrical specialist W R Fire & Security identified a way to retain the existing conventional infrastructure and convert it to an addressable system using C-TEC's FastConvert.
Three alternatives assessed
The contractor reviewed three other routes before choosing FastConvert. A new conventional panel would have allowed zones to be separated and additional zones created, but required extra cabling and would still have provided only zonal fire and fault information.
A complete re-cable was ruled out on budget. It was estimated to add about £10,000 in materials and additional labour, as well as greater disruption and a longer installation period. The third option—converting the remaining six zones into loops—was expected to add around a week of work for two engineers, plus cabling, materials and disruption, at an estimated extra cost of £3,000 to £4,000.
FastConvert avoided all three drawbacks: it reused the old system's wiring, produced a loop-based addressable system rather than a conventional one, and did not require the additional cost, labour or disruption associated with the alternatives.
Addressable capabilities
The converted system is an open-protocol CAST addressable installation. It supports lockdown alert functionality and internet connectivity, and can accommodate C-TEC's CAST-PRO combined fire detection and alarm devices, which the manufacturer describes as false-alarm resistant.
For the installation, two radials were combined into a single loop, with a dedicated two-loop panel installed for FastConvert.
Wayne Riley, managing director of W R Fire & Security, said the contractor was impressed by the converter's capabilities. He compared it with a full rewire, which he said would have added around £10,000, and with converting the remaining zones into loops, which he said would have cost £3,000 to £4,000 more and required an extra week of labour for two engineers.
Riley described FastConvert as the clear winner, saying it reduced installation time, site disruption and labour costs, and saved approximately £3,500 on the project.
He also welcomed the CAST-PRO devices, saying the sounder/VADs and multi-sensors are built into the heads, removing the need for separate sounder bases.
The project indicates how an existing conventional fire-system wiring infrastructure can, in a suitable case, be retained while moving to addressable monitoring and control. The savings cited relate to this installation and the alternatives assessed by the contractor.