Gentoo PassivHaus pioneering project

Ref: 570/1459

Issued: Apr 2010

Press Information

SUSTAINABLE AND SAFE

Housing provider Gentoo is incorporating comprehensive safety measures - in the form of Kidde Fyrnetics’ smoke, heat and carbon monoxide alarms using the Smart Interconnect facility - as an integral part of its ground-breaking PassivHaus development.

Consisting of 28 single storey homes arranged in terraced blocks, the scheme being built in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, is believed to be the first certified PassivHaus project of this scale in the UK. The term “PassivHaus” refers to a standard for buildings with good comfort conditions during summer and winter, without the need for a traditional heating system. To achieve PassivHaus accreditation the homes must meet a set of very high performance standards for levels of insulation and airtightness and require a low amount of energy for heating.

The Gentoo PassivHaus design incorporates passive solar gain, high levels of airtightness, triple glazed windows, a thermally efficient structure and a mechanical ventilation system provides excellent air quality with highly efficient heat recovery.

Despite the absence of fuel-burning appliances within homes, it was decided to incorporate a Kidde Fyrnetics hard-wired, digital display CO alarm, interconnected with the company’s 10-year guarantee Slick® range of smoke and heat alarms to a higher standard than the Building Regulations. Dave Piggett, managing director of Gentoo Construction, explains: “We consider safety to be an integral part of sustainability and went with guidance from the current Code of Practice, BS 5839 Part 6 for a Category LD2 system. This means heat alarms in kitchens and living rooms, as well as a smoke alarm in the hall. Then, we added another heat alarm in the services mezzanine above the hall which houses electrical control systems for the renewable energy systems. Finally, a CO alarm is included, as no-one can anticipate all the possible sources of carbon monoxide and you simply cannot rely on air blowing through the building with modern air-tight construction. All the alarms are hard-wired as an integral part of the electrical design, with integral backup, and linked with Smart Interconnect.”

Kidde’s Smart Interconnect means that when a smoke or heat alarm is triggered by a fire, all the interconnected alarms - including CO alarms - activate to alert occupants of danger. When a CO alarm is triggered by carbon monoxide, all the interconnected CO alarms activate. It is important to have different, distinct alarm sounder patterns for carbon monoxide and fire – preferably supported by different digital display messages.

For information on domestic fire and CO safety visit:
www.smoke-alarms.co.uk