Draka cable has been chosen for the new Highcross Leicester leisure and retail destination, the largest redevelopment the city has ever seen, which opened its doors in last September. 70,000 metres of the company’s Firetufplus® 0HLS® halogen-free circuit integrity alarm cable was installed by Electract Limited for the fully-networked Protec fire detection and alarm system and the public address system that covers all of the centre’s public areas.

The development links directly to the adjacent Shires shopping centre, which has also been re-branded “Highcross”, and adds 110,000 square metres of retail space to Leicester, making it equal in size to the internationally renowned Bullring in Birmingham. It has been described as a development that will “completely reinvent Leicester and change the way you feel about the city”. It incorporates three major department stores – Debenhams, House of Fraser and John Lewis – and a spectacular covered mall with 120 leading-brand stores.

125,000 visitors experienced the venue’s opening day, highlighting the fire safety challenges faced by every leisure and retail venue. Understandably, visitors are focused on enjoying all that Highcross has to offer, rather than how safe they would be in an emergency. So system reliability was one of Highcross management’s primary concerns to ensure that, in the event of a fire, evacuation could be achieved safety, swiftly and without causing the public unnecessary additional anxiety.

To ensure this, the decision was taken to specify the Draka cable because of its proven ability to maintain circuit integrity when exposed to fire, and continue to provide the essential power to the fire detection and public address systems. Firetufplus meets the Enhanced category of BS 5839-1:2002+A2:2008 [Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for system design, installation, commissioning and maintenance], and is manufactured to BS 7629-1:1997 [Specification for 300/500 V fire resistant electric cables having low emission of smoke and corrosive gases when affected by fire. Multicore cables].

Equally important, like all Draka cables, Firetufplus is tested and third-party approved by LPCB [Loss Prevention Certification Board] and BASEC [British Approvals Service for Cables]. These third-party approvals provide the installation contractor and Highcross’ management with a truly meaningful guarantee that the Firetufplus cable supplied by Draka is to the standard claimed for it. It provides 60 minutes fire and mechanical protection, followed by 60 minutes of fire, mechanical impact and water protection.

From the contractor’s viewpoint, Firetufplus also offered several on-site benefits, as it retains the ease of installation associated with a pliable cable. These include: lower termination costs; availability in long lengths; and twisted core construction to improve signal clarity. Its selection also called for no special tools or training.