At a Glance
The Residences at Pacific City is the latest residential addition to the thriving beach town of Huntington Beach, California. Conveniently located just steps from the beach, boutiques and restaurants, the luxury apartment community offers residents a work/life/play balance with its unique amenities, ocean views and relaxed southern-California lifestyle. Completed in 2017, the complex boasts over 450 units and a leasing office on the ground level.
The Residences at Pacific City project was originally designed as a low-rise residential building. As the design of the building ultimately transformed into a high-rise complex, mechanical specifications and installation plans for fire and life safety products needed to be altered in order to meet building codes. Mircom was tasked with outfitting the project with the FleX-Net series, our flagship network fire alarm control panels.
challenge
The main challenge faced with this project was the divergence between the initial plans for a low-rise structure and the subsequent change in design to a high-rise occupancy.
Originally, the low-rise designs for the project mandated specific low-rise systems including mechanical, electrical, plumbing and sprinklers. The subsequent change to a high-rise design created a challenge in that the existing designs needed to adjust to meet codes for a high-rise construction, and the systems needed to be flexible enough to keep up with the modifications.
For example, while standard sounder horns and strobes were the initial choice for the project, it was later determined that a larger, more robust signalling system was required in order for the building to meet high-rise codes. Specifically, it was a requirement that operators be able to make verbal announcements from each fire alarm control panel across the complex.
In order to accommodate this change, the local AHJ requested that each FACP have a microphone installed, which was an element not included in the original drawings. Since several panels were located in the basement where there was poor cellular/ wireless service, it was equally important to be able to communicate and make changes from any FACP in the building.
The Mircom Solution
When choosing a network fire alarm system, the customer’s priority was finding a reliable system that met all applicable codes and was also flexible enough to meet changing requirements. It was also necessary for the system to be dynamic enough to tie into various mechanical, electrical and sprinkler systems.
Having found less feature capabilities and flexibility when using competitor products in the past, the customer chose Mircom’s FleX-Net, for its stability, feature set and adaptability.
Mircom’s FleX-Net network fire alarm control panel system has the capability to allow for various adjustments in real time for end users. FleX-Net panels offer modular components to meet a wide variety of applications. Designed for peerto-peer network communications, the FleX-Net Series allows for up to 63 nodes, while providing reliability, flexibility and expandability.
For this particular project, FleX-Net was configured with detection, alarm, sprinkler, audibility and mass notification. From the main FACP, the user is able to voice page anywhere in the complex. The system installed today can also be upgraded in the future, and the customer has the capability to further customize the FleX-Net system in the event of building upgrades or renovations.
The customer chose FleX-Net for its peer-to-peer network capability and because it was robust and easy to program – specifically because network programming could be done from any FACP across the campus, as opposed to having to program each FACP individually.
System Summary
- 4 – FleX-Net Fire Alarm Control Panels
- 4 – QX-5000 Voice Evacuation Panels
- 27 – INX-10 Power Supplies
- 68 – Magnetic Door Holders
- 650 – Initiation Devices
- 1535 – Notification Devices
Installation and Team
Mircom teamed up with Sunwest Electric to deliver The Residences at Pacific City by UDR. The end user was thoroughly impressed with the support that Mircom provided during installation. Having used competitor products in the past, Sunwest Electric transitioned to the FleX-Net system because of its robust feature set, its flexibility and its reliability. The transition to FleX-Net was seamless, and very well received by the end-user.
The customer was trained on the Mircom product line going into this project, however when assistance was needed during the installation process, Mircom technical support was always ready and available to help.
“Tech support was there for us whenever there was an issue; we could rely on [them]…”– Gary Glenn Field Foreman Superintendent Sunwest Electric
Conclusion
The FleX-Net installation at The Residences at Pacific City was a highly successful project for Mircom, Sunwest Electric and the end-user. The project called for a system that was customizable and could have multiple panels networked together with area wide paging capabilities. Mircom was trusted to provide a superior solution together with top quality support to protect The Residences at Pacific City.
“Mircom has expertise in the fire industry, and having that background knowledge is crucial for the successful outcome of a project.”
– Gary Glenn, Field Foreman Superintendent Sunwest Electric
