A facility known worldwide as a centre of excellence for the surgical profession is being protected with a Cerberus Pro fire safety system, backed by a service and maintenance contract from Sensetech Systems.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is located in central London and provides world-class education, assessment and development to 30,000 surgeons, dental professionals and members of the wider surgical and dental care team.

With a history dating back to 1800 when RCS England was granted a Royal Charter and new buildings were constructed in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the College provides not only an invaluable resource for current practitioners but also a repository for an extensive surgical library, archive collections and the Hunterian Museum. Reopened in May 2023 following a five-year £4.6 million redevelopment programme, the Hunterian Museum represents the art and science of surgery from ancient times to the present day and includes the awe-inspiring specimen collection of renowned 18th-century surgeon anatomist John Hunter.

Protecting such a historically important building and its contents from the threat of fire is obviously a vital consideration and this is achieved through a Siemens Cerberus Pro fire system. The system is a four-panel network comprising three FC724 and one FC722 panels from the Cerberus Pro range. Detectors from the Siemens C-Pro suite of field detection and devices are linked to the panels to protect the Museum gallery, library, atrium, function rooms, offices, kitchens, stores, risers, plant rooms, floor and ceiling voids, communication rooms and lift shafts.

Complex cause and effects and monitoring includes damper controls, sprinkler control, door holds, AOV (automatic opening vents), BMS (Building Management Systems) vents, lift control (primary & secondary), access control, plant, ATS (alarm transmission system) and evacuation control.

John O’Riordan is Head of Building and Estates at the RCS England and has been there for 25 years. He comments – “The Royal College of Surgeons of England is a professional standards organisation – we set a high bar in all we do and expect our suppliers to do the same. It was really important to me to find the best in class contractor to maintain the Siemens Cerberus system protecting our staff and heritage – we engaged with Mathew Wylde Senior Account Manager at Sensetech Systems and were immediately impressed with their understanding of our needs and the service improvements they could deliver.“

Alan Walters is head of Estimating & Service at Sensetech Systems. Commenting on the project, he said “the site is very impressive, a real mix of old and new, with the original buildings from the 19th Century supplemented by modern additions. As a business, Sensetech Systems has been working with Siemens for more than 10 years, so we are familiar with their systems. We are providing training for John O’Riordan and his team at RCS England on making the most of remote connectivity available through the portal which connects the system to the cloud. This offers significant benefits, including the potential to conduct many maintenance and servicing checks remotely, thereby reducing the disruption associated with site visits.”