Fire Protection Case Studies

St Joseph's Convent School

St Joseph's Convent School, situated close to Reading University, is an independent Catholic day school for girls aged 3 to 18 and boys aged 3 to 7, which welcomes pupils of all denominations and faiths.

With over 2,000 schools damaged by fire in the UK each year and arson-attacks on schools an ever present-danger, St Joseph’s Convent school has the safety of its staff, students and premises at heart.

In 2007, following a fire risk assessment, the school decided to upgrade their fire detection system from a simple call-point based system to a sophisticated addressable fire system.

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Wellington College

Wellington College fully recognises the fire risks associated with sleeping accommodation and has taken all the necessary precautions to provide its boarding residences with the highest level of safety.

The system is fully compliant with the requirements of Category L1 of BS5839, the highest form of fire protection, required in sleeping accommodation.

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Oundle School

Based in Peterborough, Northamptonshire Oundle School is one of the largest independent schools in the country.

Following a fire that seriously damaged the school's Stahl Theatre, a major refurbishment project was embarked on, which included the provision of carbon monoxide fire detectors. The new detectors give much earlier warning of an incipient fire than conventional smoke detectors and are less prone to false alarms.

During a trial period, false alarms fell from average of 20 to zero, while with its greater sensitivity the system provided a much higher standard of security.

Aberdeen City Council

Priceless archives – dating back to 1205 – are housed in specially adapted rooms at the Dunbar Street headquarters of Aberdeen City Council.

Due to the age of the documents, the threat of fire is ever present, with even the smallest spark potentially devastating. However, the fragile nature of the archives means that traditional, water-based sprinkler systems would prove as damaging as fire and, until recently, a Halon-based gas extinguishing system was used

In the 1980s Halon was found to have significant ozone depleting potential and its production ceased in 1993, under the terms of the Montreal Protocol. New EU legislation (ED 2037/2000) is designed to completely phase out its use by the end of 2003.

The Halon system has now been removed and decommissioned from the mobile and static archive rooms of Aberdeen City Council’s HQ by ADT, ADT’s experienced Aberdeen-based engineers then replaced the outdated system over a ten-day period with one of the company’s state-of-the-art Fire Fighting Systems using Novec™ 1230 Fire Protection Fluid.

“The reason we chose an ADT system using Novec 1230 is that the fluid is a ‘clean’ agent that is both electrically non-conductive and leaves no residue after discharge, thereby preserving the delicate archives.”

ADT’s Aberdeen branch won the contract to supply and install the systems – which will protect a total area of around 820m3 – against competitive tendering from various other companies.

ADT has the largest UK and Ireland branch network of any fire and security company and is a BAFE (British Approvals of Fire Equipment) registered company for Halon system decommissioning, which allows it to offer an unsurpassed tailored solution to Halon replacement.