Do I really need to move my fire alarm panel to the front door?

[u587162]

I have a commercial premises (dental surgery) which I took over a year ago. The existing 25 year old fire alarm system needs replacing (namely the control panel, detectors and possibly call points).

The control panel is in the first floor office. When buying the business the previous owner said that as part of a Fire Risk Assessment he was advised to move the control panel to near the ground floor front door for ease of access by firemen in the event of a fire. He didnt do the remedial works after the FRA because the whole thing would have cost him circa £5k.

I've had 3-4 quotes and depending on the different options of what I want to replace or if I want to add a repeater from the first floor new replacement control panel to the ground floor, the cost varies from 3-5k.

I'm tempted to just replace the existing control panel with a new one and not add a repeater to go downstairs to save circa. £2k and replace all the detectors and call points with new ones. My question is, by not having a repeater downstairs and leaving the main control panel upstairs in the locked office, is that illegal? I appreciate it might not be in line with good practice or BS5839 Part 1, but should I be concerned?

 

[Wayners]

I can't answer.
All I know is our 5 fire panels are at the entrances.
If alarm goes off when building is empty do you want to go in and up to first floor to see what it says?

 

[u587162]

It’s a four zone alarm - so we wouldn’t even known the precise location anyway.

 

[Wayners]

We have 6 blocks.
Many zones.
Panel shows call point number and zone activation. Cross reference that with book to find location.
I don't know the answer but alarm company would.

 

[Old Salt]

Or ask the local fire station. They often like to visit commercial premises to get a feel for the layout and may offer advice from their perspective.

 

[sparkymarka]

Are the detectors 25 year old ?

 

[u587162]

I would suspect most of them are from 1999 yes. One or two were changed to more recent ones probably due to faults.

 

[sparkymarka]

Pay the money …and don’t get taken to the cleaners if something happens …