Cape Town, 11 Sep 2015
Client: Old Mutual Property - Cavendish Square
Cavendish Square is an upmarket mall situated in the heart of the southern suburbs. It consists of over 200 high-end stores and a monthly footfall of 1.16 million people. For the past 10 years FS-Systems has been managing the maintenance of the Fire and Evacuation system for the mall.
Due to the fact that Cavendish Square is situated in the upmarket Claremont suburb and surrounded by both commercial and residential properties, disruption (especially in the form of noise) is not ideal. At the same time, given the high footfall and vast tenanted areas, it is imperative that the client has the assurance that the system will function at any given time as the impact of system failure could be devastating both to the client, tenants and patrons of the mall.
FS-Systems' fire alarm system controls lift-homing, smoke barrier doors and ventilation. If any of these ancillary systems are not activated by the fire alarm system in the event of a real emergency, the occupants of the mall will be exposed to a serious fire hazard. In addition to this, FS-Systems' Evacuation System plays an automatic emergency evacuation message. The absence of this message can deter safe and efficient emergency evacuation.
1) Regular (monthly) planned maintenance checks where FS-Systems services the Fire Alarm and Evacuation System. Its planned maintenance is documented in its Service Level Agreement (SLA) and service parameters are agreed upon upfront thus eliminating the possibility of confusion. FS-Systems is therefore able to ensure compliance while at the same time managing the client's expectations.
2) Monitored and managed alarm system. FS-Systems monitors the Ziton Fire Alarm and Ateis Evacuation System with an SMS unit. It monitors the system for Fire and Fault and provides reports detailing the system up and downtime. Managing these alarms also ensures that the end-user is following the process laid out by Centre Management as the client receives an SMS whenever an alarm activates/clears. In addition to this, alarms are also monitored 24/7 by its dedicated control room.
3) Test environment: Disruption is not an option and considering that it needs to provide its client the assurance that the system is working, FS-Systems has developed a test environment. It has LED's which represent lift homing, AC Shutdown, HVAC switching, door release and evacuation triggering. During routine maintenance FS-Systems isolates actual outputs and ensure that the relevant LEDs which represent third party switching activate correctly. This, coupled with quarterly planned disruptive maintenance, ensures that the system will work in the event of a real emergency.
4) Tenant installations: Tenant Installation (TIs) are frequent and disruptive in that there are usually multiple contractors working in a shop and there are always tight deadlines (Tenants can only trade once a store is compliant with latest fire regulations). FS-Systems manages this by working with centre management and the consulting engineer by implementing processes to streamline TIs and ensure that systems always remain compliant and operational.
5) Unplanned Maintenance: Should FS-Systems' cables get damaged by alterations as an example, its teams are on standby 24/7 to ensure a rapid response to emergency callouts. Its alarm management system also provides transparency as the client receives an SMS in the event of a fault as well as a SMS when the technician arrives on site and when the fault is clear.
FS-Systems has retained the position as the trusted fire and electronic security provider for Cavendish square mainly because it understands the client's needs and has managed to customise a solution based on their requirement and in accordance with SANS 10139.
* FS-Systems' has done 47 Tenant installations from January to July 2015 - six of which were running simultaneously.
* It dedicates 32 hours on site each month to planned routine maintenance.
* The fire alarm consists of six Networked Ziton ZP3 and four Loop Panels linked to a Maestro GUI.
* FS-Systems also services the Ateis Automatic Audio Evacuation System.
"FS-Systems has been a preferred fire detection contractor at Cavendish Square shopping centre for over 10 years now. Their expertise in the field of fire detection, reliability of personnel, quality of work and dependency during emergency circumstances is excellent, and these have been the main factors that have allowed them to be the preferred service provider at Cavendish."
Aslam Champion, Senior Facilities Manager Cavendish Square.
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