Site: Lancing Chapel, Lancing, West Sussex.
Client: Lancing College.
Installation: 2007

Description
The Chapel forms part of Lancing College, an Independent Boarding and Day School. This is situated in 550 acres of farmland on a spur of the South Downs commanding superb views of the River Adur Estuary and the coast. The principal buildings are of sandstone and knapped flint and are fine examples of Gothic Revival architecture.
The Chapel services regularly burn incense as part of the clergy procession. This substance can prove challenging regarding the management of the fire detection system and its false alarm rate.

Objective: To provide effective efficient fire detection with due consideration to the historic and aesthetic properties of the site.

This aspirating fire alarm allowed flexibility and capability of system to our client and has enabled the use of the Chapel to continue welcoming all visitors without disruption and simultaneously provide an enhanced AFD system helping protect the property and its guardians for now and the future..
The aspirating systems are desensitised prior to services using incense.
The system reverts to normal operation after an agreed automatic timed phase.

Aesthetically the aspirating devices, main pipe work, and capillary positions are installed and concealed to a standard that allows the general users of the building to continue admiring the architectural features of the chapel without the knowledge of the enhanced automatic fire detection systems installed around them.

The final air sampling point positions were discretely installed with very little fabric disturbance and allowed the fire detection to perform without a visible trace of the system. This was of importance to the curatorship of the site and coupled with visitor attraction opinion.

The servicing of the system is carried out at accessible serviceable points without the requirement for special access equipment or plant.

The introduction of Aspirating circuits and strategically placed sampling points spread over several key locations of the site gave favourable results accepted by all parties and B.S.5839 Pt 1 2002.