Swift Fire & Security Book into Newcastle Central Library

Newcastle Central Library has re-opened after a £40.2 million transformation and a three year closure.

The landmark building required a state of the art fire protection system that would not only protect employees and the public but the 150,000 new books and priceless collections, which date back to the 1480s.

Swift Fire & Security, a Gent by Honeywell Technology Centre, was awarded the contract thanks to the intelligent technology solutions offered by Gent’s Vigilon fire alarm system and S-Quad multi-functional sensors. Together, they offer a flexible system which can deliver safety on a large scale and ultimately locate and identify real fires quickly and easily, reducing false alarms.

Built over six levels, Swift commissioned one, six-loop Vigilon panel with repeater panel and 114 S-Quad multi-function devices offering advanced dual angle optical sensing technology that recognises the distinction between fire-like occurrences such as steam and an actual fire, as well as loop powered sounders and high intensity strobes.

Swift’s Regional Sales Manager, Gerald Watson, said: ‘The Central Library has been billed as one of the biggest civic buildings to have been built in Newcastle since the Civic Centre in 1968, so we were delighted to win such a prestigious contract.’

False alarm management was a critical requirement, therefore having a system that could significantly reduce the risk was essential. The S-Quad sensors can be programmed to ensure that the type of detection in the sensor best meets the environment in which it is operating.

Swift Fire & Security is one of five Gent approved Technology Centres and is one of over 60 independent fire specialists around the UK and Ireland who work as part of the Gent 24 Approved Network. The filtering built into the S-Quad beam sensor – which has the look and feel of the S-Quad range and fits onto the same base as other sensors in the series – is such that it can distinguish between an obstruction and the signature of a fire; therefore it has greater immunity to non fire events resulting in a dramatic reduction in false alarms.