Radiolink easier and cheaper than hard wired alarm interconnection
The South West's largest social landlord - Somer Community Housing Trust in Bath - is installing Aico's Optical mains powered smoke alarms with 10 year battery back-up, wirelessly interconnected using Aico's RadioLINK system, throughout its 9,700 properties in Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Bristol.
Peter Burden, Building Surveyor at Somer Community Housing Trust, was responsible for specifying the Aico alarms with RadioLINK bases because: "Quite simply, it did the job! It certainly seemed like a really good idea and at the right price. We interconnect alarms to comply with Regulations, but chose to do this wirelessly with RadioLINK as it's easier and slightly cheaper than hard wiring. It's also less messy for tenants."
Interconnecting smoke alarms in a domestic property is a requirement of BS 5839-6 and Building Regulations. It means that when one alarm detects a fire, all interconnected alarms will go into alarm mode, sounding throughout the property.
This provides an earlier warning and the best chance of escape. The standard way to do this has been to run cabling between the alarms and hard wire the interconnection, but it's time consuming, disruptive and, as a result, costly. RadioLINK from Aico, on the other hand, uses a Radio Frequency (RF) signal instead.
The other key benefit to Aico alarms is their reliability, as Peter states: "We buy them, install them and that's it. We've never had any problems."
The alarms are being fitted into Somer Community Housing Trust properties at the same time as kitchens and bathrooms are refurbished; this year alone will see 250 properties benefit from this added protection. Whilst the types of property are very diverse, from high-rise blocks, deck-access flats, bungalows, cottages, modern semis and Victorian and Georgian terraces, each property will benefit from one optical smoke alarm fitted on a RadioLINK base per level, installed in circulation areas.
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