Fire Control Panel location

[asus1987]

I may have asked this in another topic( but waiting for approval and not sure if it went through)

Situation : 1800 Victorian conversion, History : boarding house / hotel/hotel with flats/ now all flats,   last conversion 2003  signed off by council building control in 2004, - fire panel been maintained by a local company since 2005, 

Basement flat with own entrance / small 3m corridor to main door, In the area are the electric meters and the Alarm control panel

2nd basement flat- round the back of building- own entrance, Ground floor flat own entrance ( also at back)

Rest of the 6 flats accessed through a central front door and a staircase

FRA- Recommends moving the alarm panel from the basement area corridor ( where it is housed inside the electric meter cupboard) - to the main hallway ( Hallway approx 2m wide, has a book case in it for mail, ) and no recesses to mount in, ( i have   assumed a panel would need a fire resistant cupboard) 

My own research tells me that, 1. Its not a feasible move due to the the amount of work that would be required,  2nd, fire safe says should be in an area common to all users , well it is currently as everyone has to get there meter readings, 3 flats with own entrances do not need to access the main building stairwell, nor have a entrance key to do so,   plus you would be moving it from a low traffic area, to a high traffic area ( vandalism, accidental damage etc) , i am a leaseholder in the building and out of 9 am the only owner occupier, as such i tend to keep an eye on things, 

[AnthonyB]

Locating the panel near the main entrance is to aid the fire service, however if you indicate it's location clearly with signage this is sometimes accepted. 

Is the panel covering the whole building?

[asus1987]

yes the panel covers with whole building,( though needs to be upgraded as obsolete and a few detectors are faulty) we have got a quote for this,

see attached pictures. two sets of stairs, one leading to basement flat, one leading to main building ( 6 flats) - remaining two have rear private entrances

,

[Tom Sutton]

As AB has said it is for the convenience of the fire and rescue service so I would suggest you contact them and see what they have to say and if it has to be relocated see if a repeater control panel could be used which would be an easier/cheaper solution.

[asus1987]

i will send them an email see if i get a response, i would assume, that either location would be fine for them, there going to enter the basement door for a fire there,  the main building if a fire there, or the two own entrance flats at the rear, 

Currently the basement flat is the only building common area as all meters are here, 33% of flats do not enter the main building as have own access,

Due to the building offset between basement and ground floor, doors in different places, relocation i do not  think is possible without huge sums being spent,  , (ceiling down, floors up in ground floor flats etc) ,  to not actually reduce risk level significantly n my opinion, ( infact i think the chances of damage are alot higher on ground floor )

i assume ours is not a unique building  for these situations, 

[Tom Sutton]

A repeater panel only has one wire from the main panel to the repeater, this is why they are recommended.

[Guest IJM]

I have a similar circumstance in london to asus1987. with frontage access etc

the basement is intended to be a plantroom... high end resi.. family occupied.

architect has proposed location of panel in basement in plantroom... typical out of sight out of mind. As building has Life and property risk a monitored system and sprinklers is being installed. and is resisting panel location in front hall.

[AnthonyB]

Depending on the type of system proposed you could have the main panel in the basement with a much more compact and discreet passive repeater panel that imply details the location of the fire/activation near the entrance.

Eg - full size panel repeater panel (about 25% of the size)