Eurotech Installs Smart Dual Optical Smoke Detection System To Secure Hindhead Tunnel, In Surrey, UK

Motorists in Surrey can drive safely through one of the United Kingdom’s longest road tunnels, with the reassurance that it is protected by the very latest fire detection technology.

Dual Optical smoke detection

Supplied by Waterlooville’s Eurotech Fire Systems Ltd, a ‘smart’ Dual Optical smoke detection system has been installed in critical areas of the Hindhead Tunnel. The system is designed to detect the difference between smoke, steam and dust, thereby ensuring that the tunnel is not closed due to false alarms, but that genuine fire danger can be detected instantly.

Eurotech was brought into the project by main contractors, Balfour Beatty, with the task of helping to protect those areas of the tunnel that house the critical traffic management equipment and other key systems that keep traffic flowing.

Securing the twin-bore Hindhead Tunnel

The twin-bore Hindhead Tunnel is the longest non-estuary road tunnel in the United Kingdom

The twin-bore Hindhead Tunnel is the longest non-estuary road tunnel in the United Kingdom, stretching more than a mile under the Devils’ Punch Bowl in Surrey, a national site of Special Scientific Interest. As the project completes the A3 dual carriageway link between London and Portsmouth, while taking congestion away from the local Hindhead area, traffic volumes through the tunnel will be high.

Hashi Hussein, Hindhead Tunnel’s Electrical Engineer, said “We are not fire detection experts, but the Eurotech engineers answered all our questions very clearly and explained why their ‘Dual Optical’ product was the right solution for us.”

Protecting the tunnel’s critical systems

The Eurotech support team advised Balfour’s engineers on choice and siting of the fire detectors, which were then installed without a hitch and became operational immediately, in order to provide maximum protection for the tunnel’s critical systems.

For Tim Williams, the Sales Manager at Eurotech Fire Systems Ltd, the new technology provided an ideal solution for the project.

Eurotech’s ‘DP’-type smoke detectors

Tim Williams said, “Because of the difficult environment that a tunnel presents, it was essential that the most appropriate smoke sensing technology was installed in the critical areas. The performance of Eurotech’s ‘DP’-type smoke detectors made it an easy recommendation for us and a simple implementation for the tunnel team.”