Historic London Irish Centre gets Hyfire wireless protection

Wireless fire detection and alarm devices supplied by global leader Hyfire have been selected to protect the London Irish Centre, a well-known outpost of Irish culture and community in the heart of England’s capital city.

More than 200 Hyfire wireless devices were installed at the London Irish Centre, which is housed in a late-Georgian townhouse in Camden, London. Originally set up by the Catholic Church in 1955 to support the thousands of young Irish men who came to find work in post-war Britain, today the centre is run by a dedicated charity, offering support, live events and a friendly space for all Irish expats in London. In keeping with the ethos of the centre, the new system was specified and installed by Belfast-based Secured Fire NI, a long-standing Hyfire partner.

Ross Casement, Director at Secured Fire NI, commented: ‘Although it may not be listed, Camden Square is a noted architectural gem and part of a conservation area, so the new fire system needed to respect the historic fabric of the building. Combined with the need to work around the busy day-to-day operations of the London Irish Centre, this made wireless devices from Hyfire an obvious choice. We were able also able to greatly reduce the installation time, meaning disruption to visitors during the installation was negligible.

‘With no central risers, it would have been almost impossible to install cable runs without damaging the fabric and aesthetics of the building, whereas wireless allowed us to pre-program the devices offsite and install them in minutes, with minimal disruption to the building and its users.’

Hyfire offers the widest range of commercial standard wireless fire devices on the market, ranging from optical, multi-criteria and heat detectors to notification, alarm, interface and control units, all fully certified to EN54. All products offer the highest performance and quality in the industry, and are also fully compliant with BS5839 Part 1. Conventional fire panels are wired via a loop to translators, from which wireless devices can be used on their own to build fully wireless systems of virtually any size, or mixed with Hyfire wired products to provide seamless hybrid solutions, offering total flexibility to specifiers and installers.

Robert Bruce, Regional Sales Manager at Hyfire, said: ‘Although wireless technology is almost universal in other technology sectors, it is still perceived as a relative upstart in the fire industry. In truth, it is not only proven to be effective but can surpass the capabilities of standard wired devices in most respects. Rapid improvements in the quality, reliability and battery life of wireless fire systems have combined with installation and lifetime advantages to ensure that wireless is now a viable solution for all new installations and many upgrades.

‘At the London Irish Centre, we have a perfect example of how wireless devices can respect and safeguard the historic fabric, while also minimising the disruption caused by installation. The cost savings made by removing the need to run wired loops right through the building, which most period properties were never designed to accommodate, can also be considerable.’

All Hyfire products are developed by fire-industry pioneers in Trieste, Italy, the global centre for wireless fire-device design. The wireless range includes all devices required to build a fully wireless commercial fire system, including manual call points, remote indicators, visual indicators, sounders, sounder bases and output/input modules. A range of addressable translators and expanders are available, processing up to 32 devices each, with the scale of the system limited only by the number of devices that the fire panel can handle. Devices can be quickly and easily pre-programmed offsite to increase the speed of installation and reduce time on site.

Andrea Keogh, Director of Operations for the London Irish Centre Charity, said: ‘We worked with our contractors to plan a full rewire of the building, including a new fire system, and they suggested the wireless option as an ideal solution to minimise costs, disruption and unsightly cabling. The teams from Secured Fire NI and Hyfire worked seamlessly together to specify the new system, which meets all of our key requirements, and we’ve been very pleased with the final result.’

Hyfire was launched in 2002, bringing to market some of the first commercial wireless detection and alarm devices fully certified to EN54. Since then, the Hyfire brand has become synonymous with quality, reliability and innovation in the commercial fire sector. Hyfire devices are available for Advanced or Kentec panels and come with a five-year warranty, backed up by a dedicated partner programme, to ensure the best survey, installation, commissioning, after sales service and exceptional technical support.

For more information: www.sterlingsafety.co.uk