Fire system site survey
Just had a meeting with the estate and facilities manager at the local university regarding their fire system and emergency lighting coverage. They require a survey followed by a design proposal for a possible upgrade if funds allow.
They have 4 buildings that require an upgrade but they do not know to what extent. As a cost saving measure they seem very keen to use any existing cabling (their suggestion, not mine). I explained that in theory this is fine as long as the existing cables meet the current standards but there is a risk as I, as the designer and individual who will conduct the survey, cannot comment on the integrity of the existing cables within the installation.
I have advised against this but they wont drop it, anyone else have any similar experiences?
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Plenty similar experiences! As a consultant it is about winning the client, assuming that they look like a good long term prospect for work and reputation. Universities I suspect are no different to many commercial sector organisations i.e. they like to have a trusted advisor that they come to without question and whom then advises them on work and competitively tenders the execution. A nice position to be in if hat you are advising on and tendering is mandatory works and not ‘possible’ upgrades.
On that basis the need is to advise as you have and be positive about supporting them in their concept. Generally this means you propose tendering the works with enabling works to check existing and a fixed price for addressing the need to strip and replace in the event it arises (which it will because any contractor will ‘test’ and then declare a requirement to replace). It much the same as the client taking your advice from the outset but with a small cost to allow them to justify it in between. One possible reason for this being attractive is that can be used as a budgetary fudge that allows a business case for less work to show the right cost to benefit ratio with a contingency that then gets used up.
Rob, it may be possible to use the wiring if the terminal units are all going to be in the same place. The problem is likely to be that the age of the cabling will mean that when you come to fit the new units, the cabling no longer complies with modern standards relating to volt drop, shielding etc. The new standards will also likely require more horns and so forth increasing the load on the cabling and possibly exceeding its rated capacity. A smart client would ask for continuity testing to see if the cabling is in good condition for salvaging and a survey of the capacity of the system as it exists versus the capacity needed to suit modern regs. Some may be reusable, but there will almost certainly need to be additions to it.
To make it easy for them I’m breaking the scope of works down for each building and summarising the fees for the expected likely resource for each scope of work. That way they have the option of procuring each building on an individual contract basis or all buildings on a larger single contract. I’ll propose that by selecting the second option it affords the ability to rationalise costs, hopefully making it more attractive to them.