Conventional and addressable fire alarm systems designed, installed and commissioned for HMOs, blocks of flats and commercial premises — sized to the category your fire risk assessment calls for, zoned so alarms mean something, and handed over with training and certificates.
Choosing a system
The building is divided into zones — ground-floor corridor, first floor, kitchen block — and the panel tells you which zone triggered, not which device. Wiring is simple and the hardware costs less, which makes conventional panels the sound choice for smaller HMOs and compact commercial units, where "Zone 2" narrows the search to a corridor and three rooms.
Every detector, call point and sounder has its own address, so the panel reports the exact device — "smoke detector, Flat 6 hallway" — the moment it activates. Fault-finding is faster, loops carry many devices on less cable, and false alarm management is far more precise. For larger buildings, multiple storeys or anywhere a delay costs minutes of searching, addressable is worth the difference.
The design starts with the risk, not the hardware. The system category — which rooms need detection, and to what level — comes from the building's fire risk assessment, and the layout is engineered to BS 5839 from there. No current assessment? We carry that out first, so the panel is built to the building's actual risk rather than a guess.
How it runs
We walk the building, take the fire risk assessment's category as the brief, and design the panel, device layout and zoning. Zones follow how the building is actually searched — floor by floor, wing by wing — so the panel display makes sense to whoever answers the alarm at 3am, not just to the installer.
Panel, detection, call points and sounders installed with the building in use wherever possible — occupied HMOs and trading premises are the norm for us, not the exception. Cable routes are agreed in advance and left tidy.
Every device is triggered and proven at the panel, sounder coverage is checked through the building, cause-and-effect logic is verified, and the commissioning certificate is issued for your compliance file.
We hand over the logbook, zone chart and certificates, and train the landlord, manager or agent on the panel — silencing, resetting, and reading events — then set up the ongoing servicing and certification so compliance doesn't end at commissioning.
Fitting out an HMO? Panel systems are usually one strand of a licensing package that also covers fire doors, emergency lighting and layout — our HMO design service plans all of it together so the council sees one coherent scheme. Tell us about the building and we'll scope the whole job.
Common questions
It depends on the size of the building, the number of detectors, call points and sounders, and whether the design calls for a conventional or addressable panel. Send the building type, storeys and rough room count, and we'll reply with a fixed quote, usually the same working day.
For smaller buildings with a handful of zones, a conventional panel is usually the economical, sensible choice. Addressable systems earn their keep as buildings grow: pinpoint fault and fire location, cleaner wiring runs, and far easier fault-finding across many rooms. We recommend on building size and management needs, not on what we would prefer to sell.
The fire risk assessment. It sets the category — which areas need detection and to what level — and the design, zoning and device layout follow from that to BS 5839. Installing a panel without a current assessment risks building the wrong system precisely; we can carry out or update the assessment first if needed.
Every device is tested in and proven at the panel, cause-and-effect is checked, and the commissioning certificate is issued — the document building control, licensing officers and insurers look for. We then walk whoever manages the building through the panel: silencing, resetting, reading a zone or device, and what to do at 3am when it sounds.
It needs a weekly user test and periodic servicing by a competent engineer to stay compliant. We hand over with the logbook started and can take on the ongoing servicing and certification ourselves, so the system that was commissioned correctly stays certificated year after year.
Tell us the property type and postcode — we'll come back with a fixed quote and the earliest available date.