Global Fire Equipment (GFE) solutions chosen for two luxury hotels in Brazil

Fire-detection solutions from Global Fire Equipment (GFE), a leading European-based fire-detection manufacturer, have been installed at two luxury holiday resorts in Brazil that are owned and operated by the Vila Galé hotel chain.

Portuguese-based Vila Galé is the second largest hotel group in Portugal and ranks among the top hotel groups in the world. GFE equipment has recently been installed as part of an upgrade to the fire-detection system at Vila Galé Eco Resort Angra and during the construction of the brand-new Vila Galé Resort Touros.

GFE’s distributor for both these projects was JVT Equipamentos who also acted as Vila Galé’s technical advisors on the projects. Vila Galé was already familiar with GFE’s fire-detection solutions as prior to these latest installations, JVT Equipamentos had advised Vila Galé on the purchase of GFE equipment for two of its hotels in Brazil.

Vila Galé Eco Resort Angra is a five-star all-inclusive eco resort located in Brazil’s Atlantic forest. The hotel has 319 air-conditioned rooms, all of which have balconies with views of the sea, mountains or the pool. The resort spans 1,500 sq. m and includes leisure areas, water sports, spa facilities, three bars and five restaurants.

When Vila Galé was looking to replace the existing E3S fire-detection system at Eco Resort Angra, it approached JVT Equipamentos to design and supply a new system, with fire-protection system supplier Ekiper Fire appointed to install and commission the system. The chosen 20-loop system comprises fire-alarm control panels from GFE’s Octo+, Gekko and Node Plus ranges, along with approximately 900 ZEOS AS-S smoke detectors and six ZEOS AS-H heat detectors. 

Marco Vieira, Commercial Director at JVT Equipamentos, comments: ‘The installation process at Eco Resort Angra ran smoothly and the hotel was able to remain open to guests throughout the installation works. One of the challenges Ekiper Fire’s installation engineers faced was with the length of the existing cables used throughout the hotel. To avoid having to change the existing infrastructure, we advised the project engineers to cut the cable loops in half, reducing their individual length and to create a data network for use with GFE’s Chameleon Networking System (the first in Brazil), in order to meet Vila Galé’s requirements.’ 

As part of the contract, Ekiper Fire will provide ongoing maintenance support for the hotel’s fire-detection system.

Fire-detection equipment from GFE has also been installed at the hotel chain’s brand-new 514-room Vila Galé Resort Touros in Rio Grande do Norte on the coast of north-east Brazil. Vila Galé Resort Touros is a five-star, all-inclusive resort which incorporates accommodation with a restaurant, water park, kids’ club, children’s playground, outdoor swimming pool and bar.

JVT Equipamentos was appointed to design and supply the fire-detection system for the new hotel, with specialist fire systems installer TecneTecnologia undertaking the installation. The installation process went smoothly and took 45 days in total, with all work completed prior to the hotel opening to guests. The 18-loop GFE system supplied by JVT Equipamentos comprises Node Sub Panels, Juno Net and JUNIOR MINI-REP panels, along with more than 1,000 Zeos AS-S smoke detectors and 43 AS-H heat detectors.

Jose Antonio Bastos, Vila Galé’s Operational Director for Brazil, comments: ‘Our Eco Resort Angra and Resort Touros are the third and fourth of our Brazil-based hotels to benefit from GFE’s fire-detection systems, and construction work is already underway on two more hotels in Brazil where we have also chosen to install GFE equipment. The systems are both highly reliable and very competitively priced. We have, once again, been very impressed with the high quality of GFE’s products and their excellent standard of customer support and service. We look forward to collaborating with them again on future projects.’

For further information on Global Fire, please visit globalfire-equipment.com