| A BS 5839 compliant category L1 addressable system from Hochiki was recommended for the project |
Hochiki has helped the resort meet all its fire detection requirements.
Situated at the centre of the glorious Maltese Archipelago and overlooking the white sands of Mellieha Bay, The Seabank Resort & Spa is one of the Islands’ few fully all-inclusive holiday locations and attracts guests from all over the world. Its extensive facilities include five themed restaurants, three bars, Malta’s largest hotel swimming pool, and a wellness spa with heated panoramic indoor pool.
Strategically located 30m away from Malta’s largest beach, it has 1,700 beds and 130 on-site staff. With such a high number of employees and guests ensuring their safety is a top priority, so when the hotel underwent an extensive refurbishment in 2012, one of the key requirements was a state-of-the-art safety system.
Firetech is Malta’s leading fire detection installation specialist and was awarded the contract to supply, install and commission Seabank Resort & Spa’s new system. Ivan Sciberras is the company’s project manager for this prestigious job, and, after making a thorough assessment of the client’s requirements he recommended a BS 5839 compliant category L1 addressable system from Hochiki Europe. Asked to explain why, he replies, ‘Firetech has installed Hochiki Europe’s fire detection systems for over 20 years. The reasons we have such long lasting relationships with our clients is down to the products’ extensive range of options, proven reliability and excellent support service. We were therefore confident that with Hochiki all Seabank Resort & Spa’s fire detection requirements could be met.’
The fire detection system is based around the Enhanced Systems Protocol (ESP) – a robust total communications solution for intelligent fire detection and fully integrated systems. It has a multi-purpose structure that provides the flexibility and expansion to accommodate simple addressable systems through to integrated building management and safety systems.
A wide variety of devices have been sited throughout the Seabank Resort & Spa including 1,184 ALG-EN smoke sensors, which feature Hochiki Europe’s High Performance Chamber Technology. This minimises the differences in sensitivity experienced in flaming and smouldering fires, thereby reducing the possibility of unwanted alarms, which can be highly disruptive and have a detrimental impact on customer satisfaction. In addition, 193 ACB-E heat sensors and 83 HCP-E manual call points are complemented by a series of other devices such as dual relay modules, mains relay controllers, mini zone monitors and smoke reflective beams.
The size and scale of the installation meant that it was at times a highly complex process due, in part, to the configuration of multiple addresses. Given that Firetech had only an eight month window to install and commission the entire system, time was of the essence and Sciberras comments, ‘Thanks to the design of the products, once the base is installed, fitting the devices can be done extremely quickly, usually taking about 30 seconds compared to some other manufacturers’ products which can take up to 20 minutes.’
BS 5839 specifies that in areas where people are sleeping the sounder level needs to be 75dB at the bed-head. To meet this requirement 631 base sounders have been used along with 23 combined base sounder beacons in specific areas where an additional visual warning is considered necessary to alert occupants.
The installation was completed on time to the exact specification required and, so far, few false alarms have been reported. Ivan Sciberras concludes, ‘We are delighted to have completed another successful installation of Hochiki Europe’s products in Malta. Once again, we have been able to exceed the expectations of our client and I am confident that those working and staying at the Seabank Resort & Spa are now protected by the most robust, reliable and well designed fire detection technology on the market.’