Fast Track to fire Safety
The latest world-class sports facilities in Wales have been fitted with new generation FP Plus cable from Prysmian. The Cardiff International Sports Stadium, a multi sport and special events venue, and the Cardiff City Football Stadium, which will become home to both Cardiff City Football Club and the Cardiff Blues rugby union team, are set to become the pride and joy of the city.
The venues, which will both hold large numbers of spectators, athletes and staff, needed a durable and trusted cable to power the essential life safety systems.
The new home of Welsh athletics was opened to the public in summer 2008 and offers a range of activities. New generation FP Plus was used in the fire alarm system throughout the facility, as well as in the disabled refuges and public address system. Prysmian’s FP 400 cable was used for the emergency life saving
system’s backup generator.
Director Nik Mason, from electrical contractor Evans Electrical, started electrical work on the project in
November 2007 and finished in July 2008. Nik said, “We installed over 2,000 metres of cable and one of the main benefits of using Prysmian on this build was the fast delivery times and ease of installation.” The new generation of FP Plus is a highly durable and dressable, easy to terminate and install, fire resistant cable, using an enhanced variant of the unique Insudite damage resistant insulation system.
Nik explained, “As this is an allweather facility, a hardy cable was needed and I specified FP Plus new generation as I knew it would fit the bill. The stadium has been open for a few months now and there have been no problems with regard to the electrical installation.”
A highly durable cable was also needed for what is set to become another very popular sports facility. The
Cardiff City Football Stadium will open in autumn 2009 when thousands of fans are expected to descend on the magnificent facility, constructed by Laing O’Rourke.
The electrical contractor on the near 30,000 capacity stadium is NG Bailey, with some of the installation carried out by subcontractors, Tigerfire & Security. Site based project manager, Russell Morgan of Tigerfire & Security, commented, “We used FP Plus enhanced cable in the life safety electrical installation, white for the public address and voice activation systems and red for the fire alarm system.” The cable has a robust thermoplastic enhanced LSOH sheath which can be either white or red, white being recommended for external exposure.
Russell said, “As an installer myself, I like using Prysmian cable as it dresses very well and it bends but still holds its shape well, much better than others in fact. Secondly, it strips very easily and is easy and quick to terminate. Thirdly, the cable complies with all the relevant standards, a necessity for such a high profile project as this.” FP Plus is fully compliant with all the requirements for enhanced cables approved for fire detection and fire alarm critical signal paths in BS5839-1:2002 enhanced application areas, voice alarm
systems to BS5839-8:2008 and emergency lighting systems to BS5266-1:2005
Due to the sheer size of the project, over 20,000 metres of cable has been installed and the total cost of the electrical and mechanical work is over £5million. Tigerfire started work on the project in April 2008 and is on course to finish in April 2009.
Once both stadiums are in full swing in 2009, Cardiff is set to become a sporting force to be reckoned with. Fire safety has been taken care of so now it’s up to the sports professionals to really light up the stadium.
Contact Details and Archive...
Related Articles...