CJ Sparks Electrical, Data, Fire and Security contractors

Fire Alarms

Fire alarms form an important part of building infrastructure. They provide early warning of a fire to facilitate safe escape.

We design, install and maintain fire alarm systems in both commercial and domestic settings. We always provide documentation with our systems; our documentation exceeds the requirements of BS5839 (Part 1 and 6)

We prefer to use Apollo, Aico and C-Tec products as we have attended their product training and have their support – especially as they are all UK manufacturers.

Different devices can be used for those who are deaf/hard of hearing – such as strobes or vibration devices. The systems can even be integrated with other systems within the building, such as sprinklers, AOVs and emergency lighting.

Pricing

Before any commercial fire alarm installation, a design must be carried out. Designs start from £150 (£180 inc VAT).

Commercial optical smoke detector (without base) £140 (£168 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Commercial heat alarms £140 (£168 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Commercial manual call points/break glasses £160 (£192 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Commercial voice alarm sounder base (without detector) £110 (£132 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Commercial single loop 16 zone addressable fire alarm panel £420 (£504 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Domestic smoke alarm £130 (£156 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Domestic heat alarm £130 (£156 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Domestic carbon monoxide alarm (mains) £160 (£192 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Domestic carbon monoxide alarm (battery) £95 (£114 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting

Reference Materials

Fire Risk Assessment

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came into force on the 1st of April 2006. The order requires risk assessment of all commercial premises. Although this only needs to be recorded where there are 5 or more employees, it must always be carried out.

Assessment of Houses of Multiple occupation (HMO) and communal areas is also covered under the Housing Act 2004.

Carrying out an FRA involves assessing how likely a fire could start along with the consequences of a fire happening. The resulting risk factor helps determine how safe your premises is and if unsafe, what can be done to make it safer.

Reference Materials

Completing a Fire Risk Assessment

Smoke Ventilation Systems

Smoke ventilation or AOV (automatic opening vent) systems require regular maintenance to ensure correct operation.

They are an essential system in the event of a fire – clearing smoke from escape routes in the event of either a fire within the common areas or a fire within a flat and the door left open allowing smoke to enter the common areas. See https://cjsparks.com/fire-safety/aov-smoke-vent/ for more details

Maintenance

We maintain AOV systems for a number of block management companies alongside the maintenance of fire alarm and emergency lighting systems, providing an all in one package for ease. AOV maintenance starts from £140 excluding VAT (£168 including VAT) for a small system taken with other services.

Controls panels from £310 (£372 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Window actuators from £340 (£408 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
AOV call point from £110 (£132 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting

Fire Protection

We install and maintain passive fire protection products.

These include fire doors with intumescent strips and closers fitted, fire rated paints to protect existing solid doors, installation of intumescent pillows and fillers for where building services pass through walls and installation of fire rated boards to protect certain areas.

Fire doors from £290 (£348 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Panic bars from £260 (£312 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Intumescent smoke seals from £140 (£168 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Fire door closers from £110 (£132 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting

Emergency Lighting

Emergency lighting forms a vital part of commercial, communal and HMO safety systems. It’s essential in the case of lighting failure to allow people to exit the building quickly and safely. We design, install and maintain emergency lighting systems to BS 5266-1:2016 ensuring the system is fully compliant.

It is a legal requirement to have emergency lighting if your property requires it. The Regulatory reform order of 2005 – Point 14 section h states:

Emergency routes and exits requiring illumination must be provided with emergency lighting of adequate intensity in the case of failure of their normal lighting.

Log books are always provided with any emergency lighting systems that we install or maintain to ensure that you have the necessary information to use your system. These log books are provided electronically via a user interface, this ensures that you can never actually lose the log book; as happens too often with hard copy versions.

Our log book includes full equipment schedules, instructions where provided, certificates, fault lists and the general log, all in one convenient place.

Maintenance

Servicing starts from £130 (£156 including VAT) per year for a 3 year test with report.

LED emergency bulkhead £110 (£132 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting
Test key switches from £70 (£84 inc VAT) - Supply and fitting

Dry Risers

Dry Risers are essential for buildings that are 18M or more tall. They allow the fire service to extinguish fires by directing the water they need to the floor it’s needed. Dry Risers are covered under BS9990:2006 and require a visual inspection every 6 months and a wet test every 12 months as a minimum, subject to fire risk assessment.

There are some companies which carry out air pressure testing of their dry risers. This is not acceptable under the regulations as the pipework needs to be tested under the weight of the water.

Dry risers are installed in buildings up to 50m high and consist of an inlet valve at ground level within 18m of a fire hydrant and then a landing valve on each floor to allow the fire service to get their hoses to each floor as needed.

Pricing

Our charges start from £240 (£288 inc VAT) per dry riser if you have multiple dry risers in the building. Although a visual inspection on it’s own would be less.

Vesda/Aspirating Fire Alarms Systems

Aspirating systems are installed in positions where systems can’t be maintained and tested e.g. within ceiling voids or under floors, a test point is still installed at an accessible position but the remaining pipe doesn’t need to be accessible after installation.

They can be setup to let you know about the earliest start of a fire but can also be set to be less sensitive too. Dust isn’t an issue with these systems as the pipework can be blown through and the system can be set to ignore dust.

They are great systems when you have luxury apartments or houses and you don’t want to see ugly detector heads. Aspirating heads are virtually flat as they can suck the smoke vs smoke detectors which must stick out to see the smoke. If agreed as a variation, heads can be hidden entirely.

Pricing

Systems start from £2200 excluding VAT supplied and fitted. (£2640 including VAT).

Maintenance

Maintenance starts from £180 excluding VAT per year (£216 including VAT).

Find us on Checkatrade

Reliability & Timekeeping
9.92
Tidiness
9.87
Courtesy
9.94
Workmanship
9.83

Find us on Checkatrade

Reliability & Timekeeping

Tidiness

Courtesy

Workmanship