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| Prysmian's FP200 Gold and FP PLUS cables have been installed in a 5 storey office block and a 7storey hotel |
Prysmian’s FP200 Gold “standard” and FP PLUS“enhanced” cables have been installed in a five storey office block and a seven storey hotel as part of a multi-million pound redevelopment of Ancoats in Manchester.
Ashley Holt, Project Director for Amsec, specified the use of Prysmian FP Cables in the hotel development. He says: “We were given a number of approved choices for cables and we ultimately decided to go with FP Cables.”
Designed by 5 Plus Architects, the project, known as Fabrica, is set to transform the junction of Great Ancoats Street and Pollard Street. It is part of a major refurbishment of the Ashton Canal Corridor which lies between the city centre and Sport City, situated in East Manchester.
FP PLUS meets the requirements of the alarm standard, BS 5839-1 “enhanced grade” and has also received third party BASEC and LPCB approval. FP PLUSalso uses enhanced Insudite™, Prysmian’s unique insulation, which provides greater damage resistance than soft-silicone insulated cables.
With Insudite insulated cores, FP200 Gold meets BS 5839-1 "standard" grade and both FP200 Gold® and FP PLUSare hard-skinned cables which are easy to install, strip and terminate.
The cables were installed using Prysmian’s unique fixing system FP Firefix which meets the fixing requirements of BS 5839-1 for fire resistant cables and is designed, tested and approved for Prysmian FP Cables. Firefix are stainless steel coated with an Afumex Low Smoke Zero Halogen® coating. Both single and double, red Firefix clips were used to fix FP200 Gold® and FP PLUSto the structure. The FP Firefixsystem is designed to be up to ten times faster to install than installation with AP clips, so, Holt says, “We saved a lot of time by using FP Firefix over traditional clippings.”
Holt continues: “The quality and installation were the key factors in our decision. FP200 Gold® comes on a plastic cable drum, as opposed to a cardboard one. When you’re reeling a lot of cable at the same time, the plastic drum is really hardwearing; the cardboard ones usually just fall apart. The built-in handles also mean they are easy to carry on and off site.”
The seven-storey, 3 Star hotel will be part of the Ibis chain, which belongs to the Accor Group. The project is set to create hundreds of jobs in the office and hotel developments, with a second phase involving the construction of 74 homes and a 20,000 square foot retail space. Work is expected to be completed at the end of 2012.
