A combination of two detection methods from industrial fire specialists Patol have been employed to protect the flagship site of one of the UK’s best known car marques.

Jaguar Land Rover is a name synonymous with British quality. This is reflected in the large new Guy Salmon showroom recently completed at Cribbs Causeway and set to become a landmark building in the local Bristol community.

Protecting the 3.7acre site from the threat of fire is obviously a fundamental requirement in the design & construction process. Main contractor on the project is Midas Construction, with Evans Electrical appointed as the electrical contractor and Astron Fire and Security responsible for the fire detection system.

Guy Salmon is part of the Sytner Group and as a flagship facility in the Group’s portfolio one of the main features on the site is the showroom. 22 new vehicles will be displayed on the ground floor with an additional 20 Approved Used cars on the first floor. A further seventy Used cars will be on show outside and the roof can accommodate up to 236 cars. With such a high value stock, in addition to the building itself, it is vital to provide effective fire protection.

Astron Fire & Security selected an aspirating smoke detection system from Patol as a method particularly suited to covering the voids on the showroom’s two floors. To ensure pipework did not impact on the building interior, aesthetic test points were employed at the end of each pipe run which also enable ease of access. Two 535-2 detectors, with their two-zone capability and powerful fan, protect these areas, with an additional 532 detector used in a smaller drive-through area of the site.

Addressing the site’s parking areas and its significant number of cars, Astron also installed Patol’s analogue resettable linear heat detection cable (LHDC). LHDC is a solution widely employed and well proven in car park applications as high air flows and exhaust fumes can be challenging for conventional smoke detectors. It offers a cost-effective option which is unaffected by damp or high humidity and which is not prone to false alarms. On the Guy Salmon Bristol site, the LHDC features test key switches at the end of the lines and LDM-519-LP controllers.

The site will also have a three-lane drive-in bay for servicing customers’ vehicles and a 29-bay workshop.