FP200 Gold scores at Elland Road
Prysmian FP Products Manager, Simon Hopkins, takes a look at the upgrade and expansion of the fire alarms and emergency systems at this famous football ground.
Located in the heart of Leeds, Elland Road has been the permanent residence of Leeds United A.F.C. since the club’s foundation in 1919. The ground is the twelfth largest stadium in the country and the second largest outside the Premier League, making it a significant venue for English football.
The East Stand was constructed as an all-seater facility in the early 1990s. Consequently, it had to abide by the Taylor Report’s strict safety and design codes. This resulted in the stand being far bigger than the other seating areas at the ground; in fact it is the largest cantilever stand in the world. Due to a substantial uptake in membership, the East Stand became the new home of the ‘family stand’ in 1992. The family area consists of 10,000 seats in the lower tier and a further 7,000 seats in the upper seating area, alongside 25 executive boxes.
Initially, the £7 million redevelopment of the East Stand was proposed in preparation for the English bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Despite an unsuccessful bid, the club continued and refurbishment commenced in July 2011 to improve the overall match day experience for fans as well as producing additional facilities to support the club.
Improvements included an extension to the East Stand by constructing offices, banqueting areas, exhibition spaces and a restaurant with a bar.
As with any large venue open to the public, fire safety systems are of paramount importance. This is especially true for the East Stand as it can hold up to 17,000 people, including the 10,000 capacity family seating area. Evacuating such a large number of people quickly and efficiently requires the highest quality fire safety system available. This requirement resulted in the specification of 5,000 metres of Prysmian’s 2 and 4 Core FP200 Gold to power the fire alarm and emergency systems.
Wakefield-based contractors Powerplus installed a Vigilon fire alarm system with four panels across the site. The new system has been expanded from a two loop to a six loop as a result of the increase in facilities and size of the East Stand. The panel can facilitate up to six loops and accommodates up to 200 devices per loop. The FP200 Gold cables carry the signal back to the panel to manage the evacuation process.
The needs of disabled visitors in the East Stand have been carefully planned too, with the installation of a Baldwin Boxall disabled refuge outstation and disabled toilet alarm to abide by the requirements set out by the DDA. The outstations are wired in a loop configuration and require the four core FP200 Gold.
This cable is insulated with Insudite, an innovative hard skin and fire resistant insulation. It surpasses the commonly available soft skin silicone cables as it greatly reduces the chances of third party damage during installation. Weak insulation can lead to faults that may be difficult to locate within a cable network and even cause false alarms in the future. A false alarm could interrupt a game or an undetected fire could endanger the lives of thousands.
The characteristics of FP200 Gold results in a high quality cable as it is durable, dressable and easy to install and terminate. It also complies with fire alarm standard BS 5839, emergency lighting standard BS 5266 and is BASEC and LPCB approved. Furthermore, FP200 Gold complies with EN 50200 Annex E which includes fire, impact and water spray for 30 minutes at 850°C.
Jon Field, Director at Powerplus, the contractor carrying out the work commented: “FP200 Gold is my company’s preferred choice of cable for every project we undertake. It’s easy to work with and comes with all required third party approvals. We particularly like using it as it is incredibly easy to bare the ends off compared to alternative makes of cable. Other brands are often difficult to cut, as the silver screening beneath the sheath will not remove as cleanly with the skin. As a result, we had to cut the cabling again to remove the excess and this created extra waste and took up more time.”
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