University Harper Adams Protects Students with Smoke Alarms

Harper Adams University in Shropshire has installed Aico’s 160e Series of mains powered Smoke Alarms into its student accommodation in a move to increase levels of protection for students.

Harper Adams University is a specialist provider of higher education for the agricultural and rural sector.  It has more than 4,000 students, a large number of whom live on campus in halls of residence and other properties, including semi detached cottages.

These cottages – around 27 in total, each with four to five bedrooms – already benefit from Aico Smoke Alarms in the landing and hall.  The University wanted to increase the level of protection, but without the considerable expense of moving to an LD1 system which is the highest protection in Fire Alarm system categories.  It also wanted a solution that was flexible as these properties may be repurposed in the future.

The solution was found in the use of Aico’s Ei160e Series mains powered alarms with 10 year rechargeable Lithium cell back-up with Ei164e Heat Alarms fitted in the kitchens and Ei166e Optical Alarms in the bedrooms.  Delivering the highest level of protection for BS 5839-6 (the British Standard for domestic smoke alarm installation) Grade D applications, the 160e Series is compatible with existing Aico alarms and accessories, enabling for full system upgrades, simple system expansion and providing flexibility for possible future change of use of property.

Arthur Broadhurst, Estate Foreman at Harper Adams University, comments: “We wanted to stick with Aico due to the positive experience the University has had of their products and working with a local company [Aico’s premises are in Oswestry, Shropshire].  The new fire alarm systems we have in place provide greater coverage and enable us to record alarm incidents so we get a much better picture of what is happening in each property.  It provides us with an extra degree of assurance that our students are safe and ultimately peace of mind for students and parents alike.”

The 160e Alarms at Harper Adams University have been interconnected with each other and the existing alarms in the property using Aico’s RadioLINK+ technology which removes the need to hard wire them together; instead the alarms are interconnected using Radio Frequency (RF) signals.  This reduces disruption to the cottages, is quicker and more cost-effective to install and allows for greater system flexibility as alarms can be easily added or removed depending on different student’s needs and the use of the buildings.  RadioLINK+ comes as a module (Ei100MRF) plugged directly into the alarm head.

Because of the extended size of the fire alarm system, Ei450 Alarm Controllers have been fitted in each property to enable all alarms on the system to be easily tested, silenced and the trigger alarm located from a safe, accessible location.  In addition, Aico’s Ei414 Fire/CO Alarm Interface has been installed which connects the Smoke Alarm system and Aico Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarms to an on call estates team via a GSM dialler, for added safety.

The scheme has been so successful that the University is now looking to extend it to other student and staff accommodation.