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Fire detection for Bulgaria’s growing construction sector

By Petia Simeonova, Regional Sales Manager, Hochiki Europe

Bulgaria is building at a pace that the fire detection sector needs to keep up with. Eurozone entry in January 2026 has removed currency risk for international investors, and EU structural funds are accelerating construction across public infrastructure, logistics and commercial real estate. European manufacturers, particularly from Germany, are actively relocating production here, drawn by full EU system compatibility, competitive operating costs and strong logistics access through the Black Sea ports. The result is a significant volume of new buildings and expanding facilities, all requiring fire detection systems specified correctly from the start.

The specification decisions made at this stage will determine how these buildings perform for decades. Getting detection right early is much easier than making changes later when a building is already in use. For logistics and manufacturing environments, this means systems that work reliably in large spaces with storage racking, handle different occupancy patterns and do not generate false alarms that stop normal operations.

The BULTEX 99 logistics centre in Radinovo is a clear example of these challenges. BULTEX 99 is a Bulgarian business with over 28 years in operation, supplying personal protective equipment to 24,000 clients across 22 shops. When their logistics site expanded, the requirements were significant: a 270,000 square foot facility comprising three primary warehouses with high-density racking storage holding large volumes of flammable material, plus offices, a showroom, a screen-printing area and ancillary spaces, all needing protection under a single managed system.

MCM Engineering, who have worked with Hochiki for over 20 years, carried out the installation. They specified Hochiki’s ESP intelligent range connected to the Latitude fire control panel, with 350 addressable devices across the site. The choice of open protocol was deliberate. As Georgi Georgiev from MCM Engineering explained, the project required multiple solutions across a large and complex facility, and open protocol technology allowed third-party products to be included within the system without additional cost or complexity.

The warehouse racking created a specific problem. The racking structure blocked lines of sight between detectors, which increased the risk of false alarms. False alarms in a working logistics facility mean operations stop unnecessarily, which costs the business time and money. Hochiki’s FIREbeam Xtra addressable beam detector solved this: by positioning detectors and reflectors along the corridors between the racking, MCM achieved full coverage across all open spaces and walkways. The addressable connection back to the Latitude panel makes the completed system straightforward to manage and maintain on an ongoing basis.

Georgi Georgiev described the result: the system gives BULTEX 99 centralised fire detection that is simple to monitor, reliable, and built to support the future growth of the business.

That final point is important for any specifier working on Bulgarian projects today. A system designed only for the current building is not enough when the client’s business is growing. Bulgaria’s construction activity is not a short-term development. The factors driving investment here- EU membership, eurozone stability, improving infrastructure and a skilled workforce- are well established. The buildings being specified now will be in use for a long time. For system designers in Bulgaria, the practical conclusion is straightforward: specify for where the facility is going, not only where it is today.

Hochiki has been active in the Bulgarian market for over 30 years, working with partners such as Sectron Bulgaria since our earliest years in the region. The depth of our installer relationships here and our experience of how Bulgarian projects are structured and delivered means we are well placed to support the range of work that is coming.

For further information, please contact: https://hubs.la/Q04xyzH30