Innovation meets heritage conservation: One of the oldest purpose-built police stations in the world – in Great Britain – has been undergoing extensive renovation since January 2025 and is being equipped with state-of-the-art fire protection technology from IWMA member AQUASYS. In cooperation with their local partner, an innovative high-pressure water mist system is being used, which preserves the historical character of the building while meeting the highest safety requirements.
Challenge of a historic building
The listed building places high demands on the technology: The fire protection solution must not only cover hard-to-reach cavities and technical systems, but must also not compromise the historic structure. Therefore, specially developed nozzle types are used: DKF35 for standard rooms and DKF34 for areas with ceiling heights over four metres – for maximum efficiency with minimal disruption.
Innovative tests for demanding conditions
A key topic was the interaction between water mist and ventilation systems. According to the UK standard (BS 8489-1), ventilation systems should be shut down in the event of a fire to avoid impairing the effectiveness of water mist. However, this is not possible in the police station – here, the ventilation must remain active even in an emergency to comply with the regulations for office rooms (Ordinary Hazard 1) and technical rooms (OH3).
AQUASYS therefore developed a special test programme together with their local partner. A true-to-life room with variable ventilation systems was recreated in the in-house demo room. Various air flow velocities (0.33 m³/s and 0.67 m³/s) were investigated to realistically simulate the effect on the distribution of the droplets.
New standards for fire protection in listed buildings
The test results demonstrate that even with active ventilation, the high-pressure water mist system meets all requirements – without compromising protection or interfering with the historic structure. The project thus impressively demonstrates how state-of-the-art security technology and historic preservation can be successfully combined.
For more details about this IWMa member, go to: www.aquasys.at