The Churchill War Rooms is a museum in Central London celebrating one of the most iconic British Prime Ministers in history and was in office during the Second World War. The museum is one of the five branches of the Imperial War Museum.
The museum comprises the Cabinet War Rooms, a historic underground complex that housed a British Government Command Centre throughout the Second World War. Also housed there is the Churchill Museum, a biographical museum exploring the life of British statesman Winston Churchill.
Jigsaw Security required a completely open protocol fire system for installation in the Churchill War Rooms
Need for an improved detection system
The client, Jigsaw Security, required a completely open protocol fire system for the installation in the popular WW2 museum the Churchill War Rooms in Westminster, London.
Their previous fire detection system was over 10 years old, had several faults and gaps in the design and as such required updating of over 400 devices over 4 loops to cover the whole site; quite a large site to cover.
The existing addressable system needed to be removed and replaced by Jigsaw, with a suitably improved detection system that must be fully functional at all times, given the priceless artifacts contained in the museum.
Museum operations
The museum building is open 7 days a week, open to the public from 9:30 am – 6:30 pm, and also occupied for private events between 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm most evenings.
For this reason, and the fact that they have priceless artifacts within the building, they needed to work closely with the museum curator to ensure that we were not to disrupt the day-to-day running of the museum. As a result of this, all work was carried out during the night.
Eurotech Intelligent Fire Alarm System
Firstly, as they installed the Eurotech Intelligent Fire Alarm System, comprising of an Evotech Intelligent 4 loop panel and associated Eurotech detection devices. They then in tandem removed the existing addressable system across the site, while installing the new system.
All 4 loops were used, although there is plenty of spare capacity left for additional devices if required. As well as removing the existing system, the control panel and PA/VA rack were also relocated to integrate into the upgraded system.
The entire detection system installed covers 3 levels of the building, including a sub-basement plant room with restricted headroom and a new full-function repeater panel added.
Challenges
One of the main challenges they faced during the installation was that there were no site layout drawings available to show device locations.
The fire detection solution was a success with the Intelligent Fire Alarm System incorporating an Intelligent 4 loop panel
This required them to create and provide their own full set of drawings of the building to work from. This then allowed them to locate and rewire non-conforming add-on wiring, and bring the system up to L1 standard in public areas.
They were also able to re-configure the existing, fully managed, evacuation system using zonal fire exit lighting to suit.
Security of high standards
Overall the fire detection solution provided was a success, providing the Jigsaw Security for the Churchill War Rooms a fully refreshed Intelligent Fire Alarm System incorporating an Intelligent 4 loop panel.
The museum did not suffer any downtime or disruption to their day-to-day operations, and can now have peace of mind that their fire safety is fault-free and of a high standard.