Barclays Bank Fire Alarm Installation

Faithful+Gould carried out Fire Risk Assessments as part of Whole Building Risk Assessments (WBRA) for Barclays Bank's network of branches, identifying 134 branches to be at risk and requiring attention.

A number of branches needed fire alarm systems, while others had existing systems which needed to be extended or updated to comply with BS 5588, BS 5839 and Part B of the Building Regulations.

To provide economy of scale we agreed to procure the works as 1 package. The works were then split into 2 categories - Priority 1 and 2:

• Priority 1: high risk branches in need of system installation, update or extension at the earliest opportunity (89 Branches)
• Priority 2: moderate risk branches in need of system update or extension (45 Branches)

We further divided the project into 2 geographical areas (north and south) and the branches into 3 different sizes (small, medium and large).

Contractors were asked to price the work using a matrix of 6 key areas. Costs were then analysed against the spread and size of branches, and the cost per branch multiplied by the number of branches within each size banding.

We then prepared tender documentation which included:

• Employer's requirements document
• Branch layouts
• Statutory compliance
• Equipment documentation