Crawley Borough Council utilise Aico’s flagship 3000 Series in void property upgrades and trial the Ei1000G Gateway

Crawley Borough Council are now following BS 5839-6:2019+A1:2020 recommendations by installing D1 LD2 Fire and Carbon Monoxide protection systems in their void properties using Aico’s flagship 3000 Series for full circle protection.

Pictured: One of the Crawley Borough Council dwellings currently trailing the Ei1000G  Gateway.

Crawley Borough Council oversee over 8,000 properties in West Sussex and always strive to put their tenants’ safety first. After the release of ‘The charter for social housing residents social white paper’ in 2020, the Council decided to upgrade their void properties with Aico’s market-leading technology.

These properties now have the benefits of Ei3016 Optical Smoke Alarms in all escape routes and most lived in areas, Ei3014 Heat Alarms in the kitchens and Ei3018 Carbon Monoxide Alarms in kitchens and any room with a fuel burning appliance, following best practice and more importantly improving tenant safety.

Through the 3000 Series upgrade these properties not only utilise mains powered detectors with a ten-year lithium battery backup, but also benefit from Aico’s revolutionary Dust Compensation feature within the Optical Alarms, reducing nuisance alarms and time spent on call outs.

Pictured: Aico’s Ei3016 Optical Smoke Alarm

BS 5839-6:2019+A1:2020 also recommends that all alarms should be interconnected. Although this can be achieved with cable, Crawley Borough Council opted to utilise Aico’s SmartLINK technology for minimal disruption to tenants and to reduce installation time.

By adding Ei3000MRF modules to all alarms in the properties, they can be wirelessly interlinked via Radio Frequency quickly and easily; this has also allowed the Council to begin trials with Aico’s revolutionary Ei1000G Gateway in properties with vulnerable tenants. The Gateway will now give the Council real time updates on activations, ensuring maximum safety for their most vulnerable residents. They will also benefit from a wealth of additional insights that will provide instant notifications on head removals, replacement dates, CO levels and much more, through an easy-to-use online portal.

To ensure the installations are being completed to the highest standard, Aico’s Regional Specification Manager, Paul Barrett, has provided members of Crawley Borough Council and their two main contractors with Aico’s award-winning FIA-CPD certified Expert Installer Training. This training will not only ensure all installations are completed following best practice, but will also give the Council the means to carry out inspections and maintenance themselves, while getting the most out of the Gateway trials.

Crawley Borough Council’s Mechanical, Electrical and Energy Efficiency Supervisor, Alan Moore, has so far been delighted with the project adding “Crawley Borough Council has approximately 300 void properties ongoing each year. We use this opportunity not only to decorate the address, but also to upgrade or install new smoke alarm systems. Following ‘The charter for social housing residents social housing white paper’ of November 2020, we have been installing full LD2 systems with a Heat and CO alarm, using Aico’s 3000 Series. We use Aico products for two main reasons, firstly the quality of the product, we believed it to be the best on the market and the easiest to fit for our primary contractors and secondly, we also receive great support and training from Aico whenever needed.”

Aico’s Regional Specification Manager, Paul Barrett, who has supported the council throughout the project commented “It is great to see that Alan and his team are following BS5839-6 and providing their tenants with the best Fire and CO safety system available to them. As we know some will only install what they are legally obligated to do as opposed to what they should do as best practice.”

Visit Aico’s website to find out more about the Ei1000G Gateway or contact your local Regional Specification Manager.