The University of West England, located in Bristol, offers over 400 courses to its 30,000 strong student population and is ranked 24th out of 121 UK institutions in the The Guardian League Table 2023.
The Project
The largest campus, Frenchay, utilises the OmniCarePLUS EVC system which protects thousands of people every day. The original install by Defensor Life Safety, was of a 16-way OmniCare panel with eight disabled refuge outstations on the loop. With the need to extend the system in order to encompass more buildings and areas, the OmniCarePLUS system was then introduced.
The flexibility of the OmniCare system meant that the expansion was possible and that it was easy for Baldwin Boxall to reconfigure the system design to suit the end users needs.
"We were pleased to work with Defensor on this project and were able to provide the perfect solution."
Adding to the existing system made the process simple and efficient, and ensured that each building remained fully compliant with the requirements of BS5839-9. The site is controlled by a touchscreen control panel which was added to the original panel to create a wider network across multiple buildings.
There are now three panels connected on the system, which is wired on a multimode fibre network. Each loop consists of multiple refuge call points and emergency assistance alarms, to facilitate calls which are all received and responded to, via a touchscreen control panel in a control room. The system is battery backed in case of a power outage, to ensure fully operational life safety communication at all times.
The OmniCarePLUS system allows for future expansion, to accommodate a growing project at every stage. The user at the control pane is able to communicate with any of the call points on the system, making it suitable for both small and larger projects.
With OmniCarePLUS there is the ability to connect up to 32 control panels, each with 64 outstations, making it possible to connect up to 2,048 call points on one system.
Benefits
- Refuge area communication
- Toilet cubicle alarms
- Sitewide touchscreen control points
- Multiple building network
- Future system expansion ability
EVC System
- OmniCarePLUS EVC System
- 2 x sitewide touchscreen control points
- 3 x local area control panels
- Emergency assistance / toilet alarms
- Advance disabled refuge units
