Advanced offers fire-safety guidance at London Build ahead of Building Regulations deadline

Advanced, a world leader in intelligent fire, evacuation and emergency lighting systems, will be exhibiting on stand E64 at London Build 2022 (16–17 November at Olympia London). Here the company will be offering visitors guidance on how Advanced’s systems fit into the recent amendments to Part B (Fire Safety) of the Building Regulations which come into effect on 1 December 2022. As well as sharing knowledge with visitors, the company will also be showcasing its latest evacuation alert and fire safety solutions.

The amended Approved Document B of the Building Regulations was published in June 2022 and offers improvements to fire-safety guidance to ensure tall buildings are made safer in England. This includes the ‘significant’ addition to the document of the mandatory requirement for new residential developments over 18m to incorporate a BS 8629 evacuation alert system. Advanced welcomes these improvements and will be on hand at London Build to help those involved in the design or construction of residential developments to explain the changes relating to evacuation alert systems and to give guidance on how to comply.

An evacuation alert system is vital to help fire and rescue services inform residents of a change in evacuation strategy during an incident. This gives fire and rescue services an additional tool to use on the ground, alongside existing methods of evacuation, improving safety for residents. To comply with the amended Part B, an evacuation alert system should be provided in accordance with BS 8629 Code of Practice for the design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of evacuation alert systems for use by fire and rescue services in England.

Ken Bullock, Business Development Manager for Evacuation Alert Systems at Advanced, said: ‘We’re looking forward to exhibiting at London Build. We are keen explain to companies about how the amendments to Building Regulations affect evacuation alert systems. With the deadline for compliance fast approaching, it’s essential that anyone involved in the design or construction of residential developments knows what they need to do now.

‘Evacuation alert systems are a valuable tool that allows the fire and rescue services to evacuate residents at risk in a safer, managed way. Our EvacGo Evacuation Alert System has been carefully designed to be an easy way to meet BS 8629 and to take away the hard work for building owners, end-users and importantly front-line fire and rescue services. Our aim is to offer peace of mind to those responsible for a building that, by choosing this system, they are complying with Building Regulations and keeping residents safe.’

Advanced’s EvacGo evacuation alert system will showcase on Advanced’s stand at London Build. The panel, developed alongside fire industry leaders, combines EN54-2 and 4 approved MxPro 5 technology with clear, easy-to-use manual controls to ensure firefighters can quickly and effectively identify and operate alert sounders to support the safe evacuation of tall residential buildings.

EvacGo provides a simple, at-a-glance overview of a building’s evacuation alert zones, along with LED indication and manual toggle-switch controls for operating evacuation alert devices in each zone. The panels are available in 8, 16, 24 or 32 ‘firefighter evacuation alert area’ variants and are expandable from 1 to 4 loops – or even further, when using Advanced’s highly robust, fault-tolerant network.

Advanced is currently one of a handful of manufacturers to offer an evacuation alert system housed within a box specially designed by Gerda Security to meet stringent antitamper standards. The EvacGo panel is housed inside a robust, security-rated enclosure meeting the STS 205 class BR2 security rating with patented BS EN 1303-compliant lock. This minimises tampering and restricts access to fire and rescue service personnel only, who are able to access the controls using a patented key, as stipulated in the BS 8629 code of practice.

Also on display will be Advanced’s Dynamic Safety Signage (DSS) and the MxPro 5. The DSS forms part of Advanced’s emergency lighting range and is proven to make building evacuations faster and safer. In emergency situations, lack of information and confusion mean people often make poor decisions. DSS uses green moving and pulsing LED arrows to clearly indicate safe exits and red LED crosses to boldly show no-go areas. This distinctive indication supports effective escape and avoids congestion at exits. DSS is ideal for settings where large numbers of people may be unfamiliar with emergency escape routes, e.g. university campuses, hospitals, stadiums and transport hubs. The new range of signage provides different tiers of functionality making it very versatile in meeting requirements across a wide range of sites and scenarios.

In addition, visitors will be able to see on the stand Advanced’s high-performance, fault-tolerant MxPro 5 analogue addressable fire panels certified by FM Approvals to the EN 54 standard. Offering customers a choice of four detector protocols and a completely open installer network, backed up by free training and support, MxPro 5 can be used in single-loop, single-panel format, or easily configured into high-speed networks of up to 200 panels covering huge areas. Ease of installation and configuration, as well as its wide range of peripheral options, make MxPro 5 customisable to almost any application. To combat false and unwanted alarms, AlarmCalm is available as standard on MxPro 5 multiprotocol fire panels, delivering unprecedented control of verification and investigation delays.

For more information, go to https://uk.advancedco.com/