Fire industry expert Gent by Honeywell has supplied its innovative fire alarm and detection system to Charles Wells brewery in Bedford. The installation is part of an upgrade programme planned as part of ongoing improvement works.
The brewery produces some of the nation’s most renowned brands including Bombardier, McEwan’s and Young’s beers. The beers are supplied to the company’s own pubs as well as a range of other bars and venues and some of the UK’s major supermarket chains.
Bedfordshire-based Fire Safety Services, provides national and local coverage to clients from a diverse range of business sectors and has service centres across the UK. As one of Gent 24’s network of approved system integrators, the company were selected by the brewing giant to design, commission, supply and install the brand new fire solution. The system was part of a major refurbishment of the site’s administration block, which also contained all of the main cabling for the original fire detection and alarm (FD&A) system.
Adam Gillespie, Fire Safety Services, says: “One of the biggest challenges on this project was keeping the system up and running during the installation, as any interruptions could have disrupted the brewery’s production process. The main cables for the FD&A system run through the administration block and out to the other units on the site. Fortunately, the incumbent system was a Gent solution and we were able to keep that up and running while we installed the new devices on the site.”
Fire Safety Services designed an efficient, cost effective solution for the Brewery using a fully addressable Gent system, including the S-Quad range. More than 150 devices were installed in the admin block, with the S-Quad multi sensors selected to combine the most advanced sensing technologies with alarm functionality.
These devices enable fires to be detected using a range of sensing elements including heat, smoke and CO. The technology uses patented dual angle optical scatter, and the programmable sensitivity states means the S-Quad devices can be configured to address specific known risks such as steam and dust, allowing it to significantly reduce potential false alarms.
Gillespie continues: “Keeping false alarms to a minimum is critical on a site like this, as any false alerts would have an impact on the brewing, canning and bottling processes. We selected the Gent solution as it was essential that we had a reliable system to prevent the incidences of false alarms. The cabling also had to be discreet as the refurbished building was redesigned in an industrial style with a lot of surface steel work, and we wanted to ensure the cables didn’t affect the aesthetics.”
Roger Bell, Head of Property Development at Charles Wells said: “We have been pleased with the standard of work carried out by Fire Safety Services, and the performance of the new upgraded Gent system. The operation was kept up and running throughout, even when the building works were ongoing. The system has performed seamlessly since it was installed, and there have been no incidences of false alarms.”
