Fire Alarm Systems for Business: Offices, Warehouses, Restaurants, Hotels and Shopping Centres

There is no one-size-fits-all fire alarm. Offices, warehouses, restaurants, hotels and shopping centres differ in area, ceiling height, fire load and occupancy — and so do the solutions.

Here are the key points for protecting the most common commercial buildings.

Fire alarm for an office: what is needed?

Smoke detectors in offices, corridors, meeting rooms and archives; manual call points at exits; a warning system (sounders and exit signs for small offices, voice alarm for large ones); and ventilation shutdown on fire alarm.

If the office is in a business centre, the system is integrated with the building's main fire alarm.

Warehouse fire alarm: special considerations

Large areas, high ceilings, racking, dust and forklifts. Beam smoke detectors, flame detectors and aspirating systems are used here. Transmitting the alarm to security or a monitoring centre is vital, because warehouses are often empty at night.

Warehouses storing combustible materials may also need automatic suppression.

Fire alarm for restaurants and cafés

Kitchen: heat detectors (smoke detectors would trigger on steam and frying). Dining area: smoke detectors, a warning system and exit signs. Local suppression systems are installed in kitchen hoods over cookers and fryers.

Shutting off ventilation and gas on fire alarm is essential.

Fire alarm for hotels

Smoke detectors in every room and corridor, multilingual voice alarm, smoke extraction, fire doors, and links to lifts and access control.

We have worked at the Sheraton (now City Palace), Hotel Uzbekistan and Grand Mir hotels.

Fire alarm for shopping centres

One of the most complex building types: large areas, many tenants and large crowds. It requires addressable systems, zoned voice alarm, smoke extraction, suppression, fire-resistant cabling and integration of all systems at one control desk.

Every tenant must coordinate changes in its area with the building's main system.

Sites we have worked on

The Sheraton (City Palace), Hotel Uzbekistan and Grand Mir hotels; the National Bank; Bunyodkor Stadium; the embassies of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Algeria; Westminster International University; the Sarbast brewery; the NMMC head office; the LUKOIL office; Tashkent International Airport.

Each solution was designed individually, taking into account the building's use, operating hours and the standards.

Leased premises: who is responsible for the fire alarm

In business centres and malls the owner is usually responsible for the building's main system and the tenant for protecting its own unit, unless the lease says otherwise. Any changes — new layouts, partitions, suspended ceilings — must be agreed with the management company so the tenant's detectors work correctly with the main system.

We carry out such work in line with each building's requirements.

Where should a business owner start?

1) Call us and describe the premises: address, area, use, number of floors. 2) An engineer visits free of charge and inspects the rooms. 3) You receive a proposal: what the standards require and what it costs. 4) Once agreed — design, installation, commissioning and documents. 5) The system moves on to maintenance.

For a small office or shop the whole process usually takes one to three weeks.