North Road Academy, an Islamic primary school in Stoke-on-Trent, has upgraded its fire detection system by converting the existing conventional installation to an addressable one using FastConvert, C-TEC's conventional-to-addressable zone converter, rather than replacing it.
The school had initially considered a complete replacement of its fire system. Specialist electrical contractor W R Fire & Security carried out a site survey and identified the potential to enhance the existing conventional system instead.
Three alternatives assessed
Before opting for FastConvert, three upgrade routes were considered:
- A new conventional panel, which would have allowed zones to be separated and additional zones created, but required extra cabling and would have left a conventional system able to report only zonal fire and fault information.
- A full re-cable, ruled out on budget grounds; it was estimated to add £10,000 in materials and labour, along with greater disruption and a longer installation.
- Converting the remaining six zones into loops, estimated to add around £3,000–£4,000 in cabling, materials and disruption, plus about a week of work for two engineers.
According to C-TEC, FastConvert avoided all three drawbacks at once: it reuses the existing wiring, delivers a loop-based addressable system rather than a conventional one, and does so without the extra cost, labour or disruption.
The upgrade turned the legacy conventional system into an open-protocol CAST addressable system, described as capable of lockdown alert functionality and internet connectivity, and able to accommodate C-TEC's CAST-PRO combined fire detection and alarm devices, which are designed to resist false alarms. To achieve this, two radials were combined into a single loop, with a dedicated two-loop panel installed for FastConvert.
Contractor's assessment
Wayne Riley, managing director of W R Fire & Security, said the company was impressed by the converter's capabilities. Set against a full rewire at around £10,000, or converting the remaining zones at £3,000–£4,000 plus a week of extra labour for two engineers, he called FastConvert the clear winner, saying it reduced installation time, site disruption and labour costs and saved approximately £3,500 on the project.
Riley added that the new CAST-PRO devices were felt to be superior to other manufacturers' because the sounder/VADs and multi-sensors are built into the heads, so separate sounder bases are not needed.