University of Sudan tackles heat and dust with life safety solutions

Issue 4 2020 Fire & Safety

One of Sudan’s most prestigious education institutions, Sudan University, has completed the development of its Faculty of Pharmacy with the installation of a fire alarm system. To guarantee the safety of students, staff and visitors, the university chose devices with the ability to withstand the harsh Sudanese environment – turning to a series of solutions from Hochiki.

Combining both Arabic and African culture, Khartoum is the capital city of Sudan and sports a unique and diverse city with many popular tourist attractions. At the heart of the city lies Sudan University; boasting beautiful architecture, the university is an essential part of tourists’ sightseeing agendas.

However, due to the desert climate, temperatures frequently soar to 40&nbrsp;degrees and above and the city is often threatened by dust storms. Finding a life safety solution that could endure these high temperatures and remain unaffected by the storms was therefore essential for the university, as exposure to dust can often cause problems and result in false alarms or device malfunction. Taking these requirements into consideration, the university enlisted the support of Hochiki, a favoured supplier in Sudan due to its solutions’ high tolerance to extreme dust and heat conditions.

Understandably, educational structures like Sudan university require robust and controllable life safety systems. High traffic areas, therefore, like the faculty, where different types of activities such as lectures, meetings and assemblies are constantly taking place, require the highest quality fire detection.

Full connectivity

A key concern for the faculty, which comprises three separate buildings, was that the fire detection system installed allowed for full connectivity throughout the premises. With this in mind, the university selected fire alarm control panels from Hochiki’s HFP range. The networked HFP panels form a complete fire alarm system that allows for site-wide fire device monitoring of the university buildings and early evacuation of personnel in the event of a fire.

Hisham Abuzeid, manager at Sorouh Advanced Works, Hochiki’s partner in the Sudan region said: “We recommended Hochiki HFP control panels for the faculty because they are ultra-reliable and can be networked. Since installation we have received positive feedback from the client that the panels are extremely user friendly providing them with peace of mind.”

The fire alarm devices in the HFP range feature all the benefits of Hochiki’s Enhanced System’s Protocol (ESP), including reduction in false alarms, being fully compliant to standards and long-term reliability.

A further vital feature of the HFP range is the inclusion of a high-performance chamber which allows for adjustable sensitivity settings, reducing the likelihood of false alarms. This makes the system the perfect choice for the university to avoid unnecessary disruption to classes and meetings within the faculty.

Abuzeid said: “Despite several external challenges to the project, once it was finished the university was very happy with the final result. Hochiki devices are extremely popular in Sudan thanks to their high tolerance to dust, durability and reliability. They were the perfect choice for this project and we’re pleased that, since completion, representatives from the university have told us that there have been no false alarms since installing the product.”




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