The historic home of the Worshipful Company of Cutlers, in the heart of the City of London, is now protected by wireless fire devices from Hyfire. Built in 1888, originally as the home of the Royal College of Physicians, the Cutlers’ Hall features a famed terracotta frieze on the front façade, and contains many treasures belonging to the Company. When the building’s antiquated fire systems required replacement, given the fragile nature of the interior fabric, a wireless solution was the choice.
“Instals in historic buildings are always a challenge, although I’m pleased to say that wireless technology has made them a lot less complex in recent years,” said Rory Foster of Blake Contractors, the Hyfire Authorised Partner charged with carrying out the project.
“Instead of having to carefully plan cable runs and working with multiple trades on ‘making good’, we can now focus on providing a system that meets all key requirements, without excessive costs or compromise.
“With so many high value furnishings and a building construction that even the bravest fire installer wouldn’t want to start drilling through, our specially trained designer and commissioning engineer worked with Hyfire to specify and install the 150-device system in a very swift two weeks from start to finish.”
Hyfire offers a wide range of commercial standard wireless fire devices, including optical, multi-criteria and heat detectors, and VAD’s, all fully certified to EN54. All products are also said to be fully compliant with BS5839 Part 1.
Fire panels are wired via a loop to translators, from which wireless devices can be used on their own to build fully wireless systems or mixed with wired products to provide seamless hybrid solutions.
Ollie Murray, Head of Sales – UK at Hyfire, commented: “Even by Hyfire standards, this was a challenging installation, but the beauty of wireless fire devices is that they can be installed in minutes with minimal impact on the fabric of the building, and our latest Taurus range offers quality and performance to equal any wired alternatives on the market.
“One quirk of this installation was the requirement for voice sounders in the public areas, in place of the Audible Alarm. For this, we worked with the Blake Contractors team to link the Hyfire wireless devices into Vimpex Firecryer Plus voice sounders, providing an incredible wireless voice sounder that has integrated into the Hyfire Taurus system perfectly, with all the usual benefits of wireless.”
A spokesperson for the Worshipful Company of Cutlers added: “Our first priority was obviously to achieve the required protection with minimal impact on our beloved building, so the option of a wireless system offered clear benefits.
“We went with the recommendation of Hyfire devices linked to an Advanced panel, the installation was carried out with minimal impact on the building, and I’m happy to report the system is incredibly responsive and reliable.”
