Sanctuary Housing, one of the largest social housing providers in the country, has installed Aico’s 160RC series mains-powered RadioLINK alarm systems into all of the 96 flats in its latest £10.4 million development in Newlands Place, Cumbernauld. Sanctuary Housing manages homes across England and Scotland, providing general rented, sheltered and home ownership accommodation.

Sanctuary Cumbernauld, one of its regional operations in Scotland, is in the midst of a £70 million regeneration programme to remove the town’s 12 high rises and rehouse the tenants. The new development in Newlands Place, which features four blocks of 24 two-bedroom flats, will rehome 96 families in modern, comfortable homes.

As a key safety measure the development is being fitted with Aico’s 160RC series mains powered, rechargeable lithium battery back-up smoke alarms. David Robertson, Director at FLN Consulting Engineers, specified the alarms for this new development: “We have specified Aico on all our projects for a number of years having been impressed with the overall quality and reliability of the product.”

Each flat has its own stand-alone system. Additional alarms have been installed in the communal hallways, which are interlinked using Aico’s RadioLINK technology to those in the individual flats. An alarm activated in the communal area will cause the alarms in all flats to be activated for maximum safety. Alarms in flats, however, will not cause the communal alarms to activate, thus avoiding issues of alarms causing unnecessary disruption to other residents.

RadioLINK lets you interconnect Aico alarms and accessories together using Radio Frequency (RF) signals rather than cabling. New properties, such as the Newlands Place development, are seeing the benefits of wire free alarm interconnection as it provides far greater flexibility in alarm installation and adaptation.

Aico’s mains-powered 160RC series smoke and heat alarms are a popular choice for specifiers and social housing providers as they contain tamper proof rechargeable lithium back-up cells, which last the life of the alarm. These can provide over six months back-up in the event of a mains power failure and the batteries can’t be removed by tenants for use in other household devices.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Ei Electronics, Aico is a market leader in residential fire protection in the UK. All alarms are designed and built in Europe specifically to meet the UK standards and regulations. For more information, please go to www.aico.co.uk.