Safety & Regulation


Smoke & Fire Protection Feature


Using a complex algorithm to calculate the ratio of these light sources, which operate at different wavelengths, the detector can determine the particle size and thus distinguish between smoke and non- combustion products such as steam, aerosols and dust


distinguish between smoke and non-combustion products such as steam, aerosols and dust. This is where most typical multi-sensors struggle. Dual optical heat multi-sensors have the ability to reduce false alarms caused


by all these mediums, without the need to lower the devices’ sensitivity to actual combustion products. The technology has been further developed to make the detector more sensitive to flaming fires by shifting the alarm threshold level when the ratio of the two scattered light wavelengths indicate that the particle size present is similar to the smallest size defined as a smoke particle. The benefits of multi-sensors are becoming better known, backed up by valid


research and, with unit costs falling, are becoming all the more popular. However, assuming all multi-sensors will provide better detection and improved resistance to false alarms is not necessarily the case. Devices with dual optical sensors warrant a closer inspection and should be considered, especially where water vapour, or other non-combustible mediums, are an obvious false alarm factor.


Barry Sargent is product support manager at Nittan


Fire safety works could use up all the spare funds released under the HRA cap


by the high cost of fire safety works to council owned blocks of flats. The positive impact of the Housing Revenue


S


Account borrowing cap being abolished, could be wiped out if local authorities need to allocate more funds to improving fire safety. The warning came at the CIH annual conference.


Eamon McGoldrick, managing director of the national body representing ALMOs said. “Councils are going to have to potentially spend tens of millions of pounds on new safety measures. “There is a worry that the HRA borrowing


freedoms that have come our way will be spent on fire safety and new homes building will be scaled back or cancelled.” Mr McGoldrick also noted that groups such as Grenfell United had changed the dynamic of


enior figures in the local government sector are warning that plans for building thousands of new council homes could be jeopardised


housing within Government, and this is something he expected to continue. Meanwhile Nick Walkley, chief executive of


Homes England, expressed concerns over the quality of new housing, its impact on localities and whether there is the capacity and infrastructure to deliver on the target of 300,000 new homes a year. He said: “There is a re-emergence of a debate on


quality. There is a live debate on new build quality and what it means to live in great places. That is a significant change since three years ago. He added: “I begin to worry about where the


capability and capacity is, so that in the moment we got all the resources, we were asking what would we do? To get to this scale [300,000 homes per year], we have to move into large-scale development, which means new settlements, new city fringes, potentially whole new towns. “There isn’t a housing association in the land big enough to take on a large settlement by itself.


40 | HMM August/September 2019 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


Infrastructure as we have learned through the Housing Infrastructure Fund is an awful lot more difficult than people expect.” In the same session, John Bibby, chief executive


of the Association of Retained Council Housing, noted that the housing agenda had fundamentally changed in three years with the Government deciding to redirect its focus away from policies such as Right to Buy. “If we are going to deliver a new generation of


council housing, we need a revolution in how we do that. We are still waiting for the government to respond on the consultation on Right to Buy receipts. Is there a case in following the Scottish and Welsh and suspending Right to Buy altogether? Maybe there is a case to look at that.”


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