THE CHALLENGE
There is a new and wildly audacious building occupying the London skyline. The Shard has become the new icon for London with its crystalline facade and striking ice sharp pinnacles pointing toward the stars. It stands as an uncompromising feat of human creativity and engineering.
Dubbed “the vertical city” The Shard is a multifunctional building containing a 5 star luxury hotel, high quality office space, world-renowned restaurants and exclusive residential apartments.
It is the residential apartments where we are focusing our attention. Levels 53 to 65 are luxury apartments. Many of these apartments will be unoccupied for long periods of time meaning any failure of services, specifically those connected to the water supply could have a catastrophic effect on the apartments, offices and other parts of the building below.
Aquilar were given the task of supplying a fully integrated system to quickly detect, identify and alert both the buildings control room and the occupants of any water leaks.
OUR SOLUTION
Following a comprehensive study of the apartment plans, services profile and available space we set about creating a schematic to ensure each apartment would have an effective “fit and forget” solution capable of responding quickly and accurately should a leak in water services or sanitation occur.
Our solution included the following equipment:
- TraceTek digital pin point location controller
- TraceTek TT1000 sensing cables
- Aquitron water sensing probes
Our design included the placement of leak detection devices throughout each apartment including calorifier cupboards, AV cupboards, fan coil unit cupboards, utility rooms, kitchens and bathrooms. Sensing cable were fitted at low level behind the vanity unit, below the bath and shower and toilet cistern as well as behind the kitchen units. Sensing probes where also installed within fan coil unit drip trays at high level and behind the freezer units. Our digital alarm controller interfaces to the Building Management System as well as the AV system in each apartment providing the ultimate fail safe for both the building and its occupants.
ADDED VALUE
In order for us to identify the correct approach in terms of plan and equipment supply it was critical that we saw the site first hand. Seeing the project in situ and having direct contact with associated trades and services allowed us to identify the correct solution and associated products. It also ensured that our equipment would be installed in the optimum conditions for our devices to work perfectly and allowed us to carry out ongoing tests throughout the installation.
CLIENT SATISFACTION
Our client enjoyed the benefits of both Aquilar and TraceTek’s many years of product and applications design knowledge as well as onsite technical support during the planning and installation stages of the project.