North Road Academy, an Islamic primary school in Stoke-on-Trent, has upgraded its fire detection system by converting the existing conventional network to an addressable one rather than replacing it, using C-TEC's FastConvert conventional-to-addressable zone converter. The work was carried out by specialist electrical contractor W R Fire & Security.
The school had initially considered a complete replacement of its fire system. Following a site survey, the contractor identified the option of enhancing the existing conventional system instead, converting it to an addressable architecture.
Three alternative routes were costed first
Before FastConvert was selected, three possible upgrade options were assessed:
- A new conventional panel. This would have allowed the zones to be separated out and additional zones created, but it would have required extra cabling and would have left the school with a conventional system limited to reporting zonal fire and fault information only.
- A full re-cable of the system. This was ruled out on budget grounds: it was estimated to add about £10,000 in materials and additional labour, along with far greater disruption and a longer installation timescale.
- Converting the remaining six zones into loops. This would have added around a week to the installation for two engineers, plus additional cabling, materials and disruption, at an estimated extra cost of £3,000 to £4,000.
According to C-TEC, FastConvert was the only option that avoided all three drawbacks at once: it reuses the existing wiring, delivers a genuine loop-based addressable system rather than a conventional one, and does so without the additional cost, labour or disruption.
Combining two radials into one loop
By using the old system's wiring, the converter upgraded the legacy conventional system into an open-protocol CAST addressable system. The resulting network is described as capable of lockdown alert functionality and internet connectivity, and able to accommodate C-TEC's CAST-PRO combined fire detection and alarm devices, which the manufacturer markets as false-alarm resistant. To achieve this, two existing radials were combined into a single loop, with a dedicated two-loop panel installed for FastConvert.
Contractor cites time, disruption and cost savings
Wayne Riley, managing director of W R Fire & Security, said the company was very impressed with FastConvert and described it as extremely innovative in what it can do. Against a full re-wire, which he said would have added around £10,000 to the job, or converting the remaining zones into loops, which would have cost an extra £3,000 to £4,000 plus a week's extra labour for two engineers, he called FastConvert the clear winner. He said it massively reduced installation time, site disruption and labour costs, and saved approximately £3,500 on the project.
Riley added that the contractor also rated the new CAST-PRO devices highly, describing them as far superior to other manufacturers' products because the sounder/VADs and multi-sensors are built into the heads, so separate sounder bases are not needed.
The project is presented by C-TEC and the installing contractor as a case for converting an existing conventional system rather than replacing it; the figures cited are the contractor's own estimates for the alternatives it considered and its reported saving on this installation.