Flexible and easy to install fire detection essential for special educational settings

For educational settings which cater for children with learning difficulties, it is extremely important that any kind of maintenance that might cause disruption is kept to an absolute minimum to avoid distressing the pupils. Selecting a fire detection installation partner who understands this is key to a project which is completed successfully and swiftly.  In this article we hear how special ed school Fred Nicholson in Norfolk achieved a new life safety installation with ease when they worked with Hochiki to improve life safety within the school.

The school meets the educational needs of 162 pupils who have Educational Health and Care Plans identifying learning difficulties and a range of associated complex needs, including some children who receive specialist Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) provision.

Offering a personalised curriculum with high staff to pupil ratios, the school offers national curriculum and learning experiences as well as residential provision to help further the life skills of certain pupils.

Following scheduled servicing, the need to update the existing conventional and 2-wire fire detection systems was identified at special educational needs school Fred Nicholson in Norfolk. TP Fire & Security was enlisted to help with the design and installation of an addressable life safety system, and Hochiki Europe was chosen for its reliability and ease of installation of its various product ranges.

Across the school L2 safety coverage was required, whereas ‘live-in’ areas such as dormitories required complete L1 coverage (much the same as a hospital or hotel) which included automatic fire detection. Hochiki’s ESP addressable range was installed, due to its quality, reliability and diverse range of intelligent products including; high performance sensors, flexible input and output modules and an assortment of ancillaries, perfect for a school environment where the fire detection system needs to have a bespoke and flexible design. 

As an educational setting with children with learning difficulties and ASC, it was extremely important to the school to keep disruption to an absolute minimum to avoid distressing the pupils. The flexibility and ease of installation of the Hochiki products was key to the success of the project as explained by Kevin Harris, Technical Design Manager:

“A big plus with Hochiki products is how simple they are to install – it’s why they’ve become our go-to supplier for the past 20 years. For locations such as schools and care homes, keeping the installation simple and reducing on-site time is a huge win as this helps ultimately to reduce the disruption to both staff, and the day-to-day occupants”.

You can learn more about Hochiki Europe’s ESP Sensor Range by watching the video below or by visiting www.hochikieurope.com/esp