Posts in category: Projects

Comelit has supplied its Atena Fire Panels by Comelit protects new school to the newly opened Beauchamp City Sixth Form, to ensure the ongoing safety of staff, pupils and visitors.

Based in the heart of Leicester, Beauchamp City Sixth Form has recently opened its doors for its first term to welcome 350 A-Level students, following a dramatic renovation of a city centre office block, formerly home to BT.

The new four-storey college, opened by The Lionheart Academies Trust, presents classrooms, labs and IT suites, as well as study spaces and a library which will give students “access to the latest academic research in their chosen areas of study”.

To ensure fire safety as part of the transformation process, main contractors worked with Avalon Technology Group, who specified Comelit’s innovative Atena fire panels to operate across the site.

Principal of the sixth form, James McKenna, said of Leicester’s newest post-16 provision: “Beauchamp City Sixth Form is an incredible new asset for both Leicestershire and the wider region.  There is a long history of scientific and technological achievement born in the Midlands and this sixth form will help a diversity of learners take their ambitions as far as possible.

“Of course, we needed to ensure we did this providing a safe environment for pupils to learn and staff to teach.  Fire detection was essential right from the onset to accommodate the renovation work and ensure all facilities were safe.  The teams worked together seamlessly to achieve our ambitions and we now have complete peace of mind across our fantastic building.”

Comelit’s Atena solution is a user-friendly touch screen addressable system, with the capacity to extend to 4 loops, supporting up to 1000 devices, due to its dual processor technology. In total, four panels have been networked at the college to manage the overall system requirements.

Finished in line with Comelit’s focus on aesthetics, its stylish design has the flexibility to expand with a facility or building requirement.

Guy Stephens, Director Avalon Technology Group added: “This was a complex renovation to facilitate the integration of security and fire safety, whilst working with the main and electrical contractors to convert the empty office block into such an extensive education facility. 

“For fire safety, we required simple to install systems that wouldn’t compromise on the technology component and could also accommodate the sheer size of the scheme, which required a total of 13 loops.  Comelit not only achieved this objective, but also with a focus on design, suited the modern college environment.”

Mandy Bowden, Comelit Fire BDM added: “Beauchamp City Sixth Form really does break down the boundaries of delivering a new and unique approach to sixth form education in Leicester City.  Even the design of the facility, transforming an office block into modern day college environment is dynamic and commands the highest attention to specification detail, especially when it comes to fire safety.

“Comelit Atena fire panels are specifically designed to enable an expansion of loop requirements to accommodate large facilities.  With just four panels fitted across the building, we have been able to present compliant fire detection systems across all four floors, so staff and pupils can teach and learn in a safe environment. And there is still room for expansion to enable more to benefit from this ambitious new sixth form.”

For more information on Comelit’s fire safety portfolio, please visit https://www.comelitgroup.com/en-gb/systems/fire-protection/introduction-to-fire-protection/

A vast multi-functional business park in South Africa’s Cape Town is the latest prestigious site to be protected by C-TEC’s revolutionary CAST fire alarm system.

Owned by Inospace, a rapidly-expanding operator of serviced business parks, the Textile Exchange is a 2-hectare park located just minutes from Cape Town’s International Airport. Featuring a fully-kitted business hub, warehouse storage areas, high specification meeting rooms and restaurants, the park is home to a wealth of fast-growing businesses and manned 24/7 by security guards.

Brigit Group, one of South Africa’s leading fire protection companies, was charged with equipping the site with its life safety systems. Said Divan Lerm, the company’s Detection and Special Risk Manager: “Site security is of paramount importance at such a large high-value site and our client insisted on the highest quality fire equipment. Hence our specification of C-TEC’s CAST system.”

Comprising a powerful 2-loop XFP addressable fire alarm panel connecting to over one hundred CAST devices including heat and smoke detectors, call points and sounder visual alarm devices, the CAST system provides the ultimate fire protection at the site. A number of input output units have been utilised to interface the system to third-party equipment such as sprinkler valves, flow and mains switches. Beam detectors are also in operation to protect the ceiling spaces in the extensive warehouse storage areas and a repeater panel is in operation in the on-site Park Manager’s office to display data and provide an alert in the event of an emergency.

Programming the devices was particularly easy as CAST’s soft-addressing capacity means all fire devices can be programmed at the panel. Said Divan: “From an engineer’s point of view, CAST’s soft-addressing feature is superb. The fact that we were able to programme all the devices via panel rather than having to walk around the site locating devices to physically program them made system set up fast and easy. From start to finish, this was a very smooth installation and our client is delighted with the end result.”

Following the International Day of Forests, the European Commission has published new guidelines to facilitate a better understanding of land-based wildfire prevention and effective responses. They point towards prevention measures that can be taken through governance, planning and forest management, and outline how EU Member States can access EU funding for wildfire resilience and work together at EU level.

Forests are necessary for biodiversity, climate and water regulation, the provision of food, medicines and materials, carbon sequestration and storage, soil stabilisation and the purification of air and water. We have to protect, restore and manage forests sustainably, as they are crucial for our lives and livelihoods.

In recent years, the impact of wildfires on people and nature has increased. The new guidance looks at interconnected factors behind this increase, and provides an overview of existing principles and experiences on managing landscapes, forests and woodlands that can save lives.

The European Green Deal announced a new EU Forest Strategy for 2021 to ensure effective afforestation, and forest preservation and restoration in Europe. This will help to reduce the incidence and extent of wildfires. The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030 also aims to contribute to the EU and its Member States being adequately equipped to prevent and respond to major wildfires, which seriously damage forest biodiversity. The new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change puts emphasis on the need to strengthen the resilience of forests and includes several actions to support this objective. Climate change is already damaging Europe’s forests directly and indirectly through fires, droughts and unprecedented bark beetle outbreaks. Such impacts are likely to increase in the future.

Wildfire risks can be successfully addressed through better management and land-use planning. Mitigating wildfire risks requires looking at land management to ensure that the structure, composition and use of forests, woodland and other vegetation landscapes are more resistant and resilient against wildfires. Citizens also need to be informed and educated about wildfires. The Commission provides funding for such education actions and facilitates cooperation and the coordination of joint responses.

In addition, the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has developed country profiles under the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) to support wildfire management and disaster risk reduction globally and in particular in Latin America and the Caribbean. This work is part of the EU’s comprehensive approach to support conservation and sustainable development of Amazon forests. There are at present more than 50 EU programmes on this regional priority, and the new budget for global Europe will also cover a specific Amazon strategy, coordinated with EU Member States.

Reactions by Members of the College

Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans said: “Trees are our allies in the fight against the climate and biodiversity crisis. A tree helps purify the air, cools cities, and takes up CO2. Humans already put enormous pressure on the world’s forests, and wildfires are an additional threat. With the risk of wildfires exacerbated by rising temperatures and increasing droughts, stronger forest protection, better prevention and faster responses are crucial.”

Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said: “Forest ecosystems are home to 80% of the world’s known terrestrial plants and animals, and their destruction puts us all at risk. Wildfires are an increasingly growing threat to forests and humans and in this new context, prevention and cooperation are our most important tools. I am convinced that these guidelines can create a more effective response with great benefits for people, and the nature we depend on.”

Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: “Wildfires can have catastrophic consequences on the environment and on people. The country profiles designed by the Joint Research Centre will contribute to the risk assessment and mitigation of this danger, proving how science can help improve and protect lives and our planet.”

Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said: “The fires in the Amazon region and globally were unprecedented in their destruction over the last years. The Global Wildfire Information System is therefore crucial to provide information on fire danger and burnt areas globally. Monitoring tools such as the Global Wildfire Information System help the Commission to have all information at hand to coordinate the EU response, and protect lives, livelihoods and the environment”.

Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen said: “We stand ready to work together with our partners towards more effective wildfire prevention. This work requires sharing of knowledge on sustainable forest management techniques, adapted to local needs, as well as restoration of forests. The World’s forests are indispensable for biodiversity, climate and for us humans; we need to respect and protect ecosystems that give us so much, also in terms of jobs and livelihoods. With the Green Deal, we aim to ensure the preservation of healthy forests for future generations.”

Background

In recent years, wildfires have had an enormous impact on Europe’s natural capital, economy, and its people, from South to North and East to West. The causes behind these recent trends are complex, and they include climate change, land-management changes, social patterns such as rural abandonment and urban expansion, changing cultural traditions and leisure behaviours, as well as sub-optimal fire management policies.

New scenarios of global climate change also show a potential increase in the occurrence of so-called catastrophic fires, i.e. wildfires that are too severe to be put out. In response to these alarming trends, greater attention should be given to land-based fire prevention practices as part of integrated fire management.

The JRC’s country profiles provide information on the geographic distribution of wildfires, burnt areas and emissions, and assess wildfire regimes and impacts at country and sub-country level worldwide. They enable a global assessment of wildfire risk and mitigation of the effects of wildfires on land degradation, deforestation, or biomass burning emissions. The Global Wildfire Information System builds on the European Forest Fire Information System of Copernicus, and is being further developed together with Group on Earth Observations and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in close collaboration with the United Nations. GWIS services also contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Survitec, a global leader in critical safety and survival solutions, has today announced that it has signed an intent to purchase Hansen Protection, a leading European provider of specialist survival suits and protective equipment.

Ron Krisanda, Executive Chairman – Survitec, commented: ‘’Hansen Protection has a reputation for consistently delivering excellent products and services.

“The coming together of our two businesses, through a combination of our people, products, technology and wide-reaching footprint, will bring added value to our customers and reinforce Survitec’s position in the Energy and Marine sectors.’’

Rosenbauer is continuing to expand its operations in Upper Austria. The international fire equipment provider, which has its corporate headquarters in Leonding, Austria, is setting up a new point of contact for its customers in Asten.

The Rosenbauer Österreich Customer Center will offer fire services everything they need for their operations. There, they will be able to have all their technology, vehicles, pumps and equipment inspected and serviced, procure spare parts and buy new kit. The location, which is already home to a logistics center, is the fourth in Austria after Leonding 1 and 2, the two production facilities for vehicles and extinguishing systems, and Linz-Pichling, where fire helmets are made. Its opening underlines the company’s commitment to the region.

More space for servicing
Fire trucks will be maintained and repaired in a purpose-built workshop with twelve service bays. That is five more than Leonding, where servicing will cease once the Asten site is up and running and the space that this frees up will be used for production.

The servicing infrastructure at the new location includes state-of-the-art test equipment for firefighting pumps and foam proportioning systems, a cable winch test rig, a washing station and a preservation unit for applying underbody protection. The vehicle service bays are fitted with efficient exhaust extraction systems, while the extinguishing agent test stations have a dedicated tank for collecting foam concentrate. The preservation unit features an automated air purification system with high-performance filters. 

An assembly area with metal machining equipment and a welding station is also being set up in the workshop so that minor modifications and refurbishment, modernization and general overhaul work can be carried out on fire trucks. “We want to keep on growing in our Customer Service business unit and broaden our range,” says Andreas Zeller, Chief Sales Officer at Rosenbauer. “We see a lot of potential in the refurbishment in particular and are setting our sights on more than just domestic fire services – more than that, we want Asten to be a base for an international operation.”

New one-stop shop
Alongside the servicing infrastructure, Rosenbauer will be offering fire services a full range of spare parts and equipment at its customer center in Asten. The new shop will have much more floor space than was previously available in Leonding and will offer all key products for fire services, particularly own-brand personal protective equipment and technical safety gear. This includes HEROS firefighting helmets, FIRE FLEX protective suit, Rosenbauer nozzles and the NAUTILUS range of submersible pumps. 

Experienced expert consultants will be on hand to help fire services choose the right equipment, and the key products will also be available online in the near future. “We want to be easily accessible to fire services, and close links with our customers are very important to us,” says Markus Wieshofer, managing director of Rosenbauer Österreich. “They can visit us at our new shop in Asten, order equipment conveniently online or put in requests through our mobile equipment shop. Then, we’ll take a bus full of products directly to the fire house and provide an on-site consulting service.”

The Rosenbauer Österreich Customer Center will be open to fire services starting in April. The shop is due to open on April 12, followed by the service department a month later on May 10. Thanks to its convenient location near the Asten exit, the new Rosenbauer customer center is easily accessible via the West Autobahn freeway.

London Fire Brigade has now opened a Fire Cadets unit in all 32 London boroughs and the City of London.

Having received £1.1 million of funding through the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund in 2019, the Fire Cadets team began work to expand their existing 18 units across the capital and have now virtually launched a further 15 Fire Cadets units. The new units will provide more young people with the opportunity to join the programme and the ability to access a cadet unit in their local area.

Despite the challenges that Covid-19 has presented, over 100 brand new fire cadets have already joined since January and numbers are increasing weekly. They have become the first to undergo a newly adapted virtual interview process and complete an induction at their virtual unit using their digital Fire Cadets Award workbooks.

Fire Cadets offers young people (age 14-17) the opportunity to develop personal and employability skills and gain a nationally recognised BTEC Level 2 qualification in Fire and Rescue Services in the Community. Young people can make friends, build their confidence and, if they want to, follow a structured promotion path to take on greater responsibility at their units as Officer Cadets after their first year. With lots of young people aspiring to a career within the Brigade, the Cadets central team has also begun work to create a pathway into employment for young people, with many previous cadets having already joined the Brigade as firefighters, Control Officers and non-operational fire and rescue service staff.

Alongside this, the central Fire Cadets team has used virtual methods to recruit, interview, and train over 250 adult Volunteer Cadet Instructors from within local communities since March last year to support delivery at each Fire Cadets unit. A new volunteer leadership programme has also been developed, which will facilitate the progression of adult volunteers into leadership roles within Fire Cadets.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has launched High Court legal proceedings in a bid to force fire and rescue authorities (FRAs) to finally hand back retired firefighters their full pensions, pensions to which they are entitled.

In December 2018 the Court of Appeal ruled that firefighters were entitled to return to their previous pension schemes, after discriminatory 2015 pension reforms drawn up by the coalition government saw individuals moved from their original pension scheme onto a new but worse scheme.

This ruling should have seen fire and rescue authorities address first the cases of those who have already retired, such as those who had left work on grounds of ill-health – hundreds of individuals who are suffering an immediate detriment.

However, fire and rescue authorities lodged an appeal at an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), which was heard in December 2020, arguing that they were not responsible for the age discrimination identified in the reforms. In February 2021, the EAT ruled that fire and rescue authorities have no defence for their in-action and must pay up.

Now, after fire and rescue authorities gave no indication that they would adhere to the latest EAT ruling the FBU has issued further legal proceedings on behalf of three retired firefighters, who have been left thousands of pounds worse off, to set a legal precedent for the treatment of hundreds of other retired members.

For each of the cases below, the FBU is demanding that the individual employers (FRAs) ensure full compensation is paid, putting the individuals on par with what they would have received in the previous 1992 pension scheme, as the court has instructed them to do.

The FBU says it will take legal action against every employer on behalf of each and every member if outstanding cases are not resolved immediately. The union says it will then recover all of its legal costs.

Retired London firefighter Glen Richmond said: “I have spent the last five years chasing money owed to me, which has not only caused me great financial distress, but taken a severe toll on my mental health.

“I was in a pension scheme that I thought was going to keep me secure into my later years, but I was given no choice but to accept being put onto a significantly worse scheme which has left me needing to apply for financial support from charities.

“Myself, and hundreds more like me who have retired after spending decades serving their communities deserve better than to have first the government and now our former employers try and at times succeed in destroying our retirement – they need to pay up now.”

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack, said: “It is an absolute disgrace that 5 years after proving that the coalition government pension reforms were discriminatory, that we are still standing here, with retired firefighters still being denied what they are entitled to.

“Many of those already retired will have done so because of physical or mental injury and it is astonishing that fire and rescue service employers see fit to try and throw them and their families on the scrap heap.

“To subject these firefighters to financial hardship when the courts have repeatedly told the employers to pay the retired firefighters what they are owed really is a dreadful way to treat people who have spent their lives protecting their communities.

“Firefighters earnt these pensions and deserve every penny, and we won’t stop until each and every case is resolved.”

UK housebuilding company Taylor Wimpey has set £125m aside for cladding and fire safety repairs in buildings that are deemed a risk to leaseholders.

The announcement comes after the Government pledged £3.5bn for the removal of unsafe cladding in high rise buildings above 18m. However, Taylor Wimpey have confirmed the funding will cover all apartments built in the last 20 years, including buildings below 18m.

Taylor Whimpey chief executive Pete Redfearn said: “Today we are announcing our intention to support building owners and leaseholders with fire safety investment to ensure their apartment buildings are safe and meet current EWS1 (External Wall Fire Review) requirements.

“This applies to Taylor Wimpey apartment buildings constructed over the last 20 years, including apartment buildings below 18 metres. We are making an additional £125m provision, to be booked in 2021, to cover this cost.”

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “This is the responsible approach that I expect developers across the country to take and I’m calling on others to do the right thing as well.”

The Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP) will soon be launching an innovative new passive fire protection E-learning Platform. Featuring high quality adaptive learning techniques, supported by ASFP technical expertise and training capability, the new platform will provide the ideal online solution for learners wishing to study towards Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications in Passive Fire Protection, provided by the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE).

The revolutionary passive fire protection E-learning Platform system uses adaptive learning techniques to tailor teaching to each individual’s skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours (SKEBs), ensuring every learner receives precisely the right level of instruction and support to achieve exceptional levels of understanding and proficiency.

The unique interactive learning experience will provide the perfect learning pathway for each individual, allowing them to develop the necessary competencies in the most efficient and effective way, often reducing learning time, while increasing understanding. ASFP expert trainers are able to monitor each learner’s progress and offer personalised feedback, support and coaching as needed.

The content is based on original, tried and tested material from the ASFP’s highly successful classroom courses. These have a proven record of preparing learners for the IFE exam, leading to a high pass rate. With the use of an independent and proven learning platform, we are confident that this will offer the best e-learning available.

The platform will offer units covering all passive fire protection disciplines, as well as providing underpinning knowledge on fire science. This innovative and affordable e-learning course will be available from Spring 2021.

If you would like the ASFP to contact you with further information as the launch date approaches, please email info@asfp.org.uk.