Gent by Honeywell has supplied its fire detection and alarm system (FDA) and Voice Alarm (VA) systems to the newly launched City of Salford Stadium.
Wigan-based safety and security specialists, Tate Security Technology, managed the overall project, in conjunction with Gent, from the initial design stages right through to commissioning and completion. The new D1 PA/VA system is fully compliant with the relevant standards for sports stadia and certified to EN54 parts 16.
The brand new £16m stadium, home to the Salford Reds Rugby League Club, is Gent’s first commercial UK site to be installed with the company’s recently launched D1 rack-based VA and Public Address (PA) system. The project has also seen the 12,000 capacity stadium installed with Gent’s Vigilon fire alarm solution, alongside the D1 VA and PA system.
The Gent FDA solution comprises of four Vigilon networked addressable control panels, with nine detection loops in total. The D1 VA/PA system, designed specifically for the venue, is a large rack based system, comprising of three 42u racks and a 21 zone PA/VA system, providing a total power output of 13,000W to the loudspeakers throughout the stadium.
The cause and effect strategy of the D1 VA/PA system for the whole stadium changes according to whether there is a match taking place. The system was programmed to meet both building control and the fire strategy to enable both non-event mode, used on non-match days, and full event match day mode to provide individual zoned areas with phased announcements and evacuation procedures.
There are three microphones in total, a fireman’s microphone in the control room, a 21 zone paging microphone in the match day control room as well as a 21 zone paging microphone in the DJ room with audio input to which the DJ mixing console is connected.
The stadium PA system is both flexible and controllable, and is used solely for providing audible messaging to any one of the stadium’s individual zones. On non-match days the multi-zone desk microphone station in the stadium’s reception area is used to page the ground and office staff. While on match days, the fully integrated VA/PA system interfaces with the stadium’s DJ for background music sourcing, scores and general crowd announcements. The control aspect means this can be overridden if there is a need to evacuate.
Gent’s Sales Support Services Team worked closely with Tate Security Technology and played a key part in the rack design, the acoustic modelling and the stadium speaker mapping. The whole arena had to be acoustically modelled to ensure it complied with the requirements of BS5839 part 8 2008 and reached the specific audibility and intelligibility levels. The requirements state that the alarm sound audibility over background noise (signal-to-noise): 6 dBA to 20 dBA (or 9 dBto 23 dB in relevant alarm frequency bands). The Gent system delivers an average broadband Sound Pressure Level (SPL) of 105 decibels and an average 0.5 Speech Transmission Index (STI).
Steve Hutchinson, sales and development director, Tate Security Technology, commented, “It is very difficult to predict the ambient noise levels in stadiums, as it’s often down to the individual design of each stand. But the expert acoustic modelling carried out by Akshay Khanna of Gent’s Sales Support Services Team enabled us to accurately predict the SPL distribution to give us equal sound across all four of the Stadium’s stands.”
Gent has recently created a new customer friendly D1 rack build area in the company’s Leicester production facility. It includes a dedicated Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) area that demonstrates how the rack is configured before it is sent to the site. All racks are built and programmed to a specification and the rack is shipped after it has been witness tested.
Kevin Cooper, sales support services manager at Gent by Honeywell, said, “We are delighted that our first commercial installation of the D1 VA/PA system has been so well received by both Tate Security Technology and the City of Salford Stadium.
“When it comes to voice alarms, every rack is effectively unique, as they are built and programmed to a detailed specification. Our new D1 rack build production area has proven invaluable as customers can come in and witness the product before it is dispatched to the site.”
