Shining a light on luxury

Càmina Suite and Spa, a luxury hotel in the heart of Italy’s Cortina d’Ampezzo ski resort, has invested in a revolutionary fire protection emergency lighting system as part of extension and restructuring works. Taking the opportunity to provide its guests with additional life safety protection, the hotel made use of tailormade solutions from leading manufacturer, Hochiki.

With bedrooms spanning across seven floors, the hotel needed a fire detection and emergency lighting system which would offer an ultra-reliable and cost-effective solution for its life safety needs throughout this large, and newly extended building. Hosting up to 45 guests, it was integral that the chosen system could offer the best possible protection and wayfinding for Càmina Suite and Spa’s residents in the unlikely event of a life safety incident.

Clear escape routes and pinpointing the location of a fire are essential for any hotel of this kind as unfamiliar surroundings can prolong the exiting of a building for occupants during an evacuation, especially at night. Therefore, Càmina Suite and Spa was in need a life safety system that could quickly guide its guests safely through the building. Studio Sinthesi Engineering srl, project designers, selected Hochiki Europe’s innovative FIREscape+ system as it offered high safety performance and a bespoke solution that would fit seamlessly within the hotel’s boutique design scheme. The unique, fully compliant and self-testing fire and emergency lighting system was installed throughout the hotel.

Lighting the Way Forward

For Càmina Suite and Spa, a key requirement of the life safety system was reliability. Tested to a high number of European certifications, including EN54, BS5266 and BS EN ISO 7010, FIREscape+ guarantees a durable, reliable and failproof performance to give building owners, facilities managers and inhabitants total peace of mind.

Mirko Corsini, project manager for Hochiki Italia, headquartered in Verona, said: “We spent a lot of time getting to grips understanding exactly what was important for the end user. FIREscape+ was the obvious answer for this hotel, given the need for a failproof, reliable, sustainable and compliant emergency lighting system.

“Combining two of our most successful programs onto the same loop panel – FIREscape and the ESP fire detection system – we were able to ensure that emergency lighting is operational in the event of the fire, without the need for mains supply failure. This means that guests can find the safest exit route, tailored to each life safety incident, and increase their chance of survival.”

This dynamic wayfinding solution includes the option of dual function exit signs that under normal circumstances performs as a standard emergency lighting system, displaying the internationally recognised exit symbols. However, in the event of a fire, the system will automatically determine and change the state of the signs based on the location of the fire. If a fire is blocking an exit path, a red cross will display in place of the traditional symbols.

False alarm management and reduction is also an important factor when assessing reliability; the integration of Hochiki Europe’s Enhanced Systems Protocol (ESP) technology offers a number of benefits in this regard. Every 24 hours, the system checks for changes to the environment and recalibrates the sensors accordingly. In addition, each sensor can be individually adjusted to match the expected risk of its environment, while alarm verification technology uses time delay algorithms to eliminate unwanted alarms.

A Long-term Investment

Another vital consideration for Càmina Suite and Spa was reduced energy consumption, which FIREscape+ could offer in a number of ways.

FIREscape+ units only require 40V to each unit ad run on low voltage cabling, unlike traditional emergency lighting systems that require 230V. The low voltage cabling lowers the overall energy consumption of the system, reducing the CO2e emissions for a greener solution and also negates the need for a qualified electrician to carry out the installation. FIREscape+ is also an intelligent system as each component is individually addressed and fully monitored by the system control panel. Notified of the issue via the keypads, facilities managers can then quickly rectify any problems to maintain a high level of life safety.

For the end user, FIREscape+ offers many financial benefits by helping reduce operational and maintenance costs but also long-term ownership expenditures.

Set within the Dolomites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, every aspect of the hotel’s deign scheme has been carefully considered, taking influences from the beauty of the surrounding landscape. To seamlessly merge the interior design with the new fire detection and emergency lighting system, designers Sinthesi Engineering worked closely with Hochiki to create a bespoke look that met the end user’s needs.

For more information visit: https://www.hochikieurope.com/product/firescape-plus