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Location:
Riom, France
Challenge:
Designing an emergency lighting system that meets regulatory requirements and considers the complexity of the building design
Solutions:
The eco-design of the self-contained units from the CrystalWay & Planete range and the new Matrix adaptive exit signs
While we were looking for the best way to secure our establishment in line with the latest standards, Eaton was able to support us in carrying out our project, and completing it successfully, in a professional manner. We are now able to welcome students safely and benefit from automated control of the emergency lighting.
Context
The Riom Art School aims to teach as many different art techniques and theories as possible. Since 2020, the school has been sharing its premises with the École de musique de Riom (the Riom Music School). The historic former convent has been restored to create an art school (music and art), despite the architectural restrictions that come with being part of the “Bâtiments de France” (French listed buildings).
The establishment now welcomes more than 400 students and offers 32 lessons per week.
The specific architecture of this building meant that it was not suitable for public use and an improvement to standards was required to meet current regulations. Thus, during the consultation phase, Eaton provided expertise and analysis to the owner of the Riom town hall. From this assessment, the challenges to building evacuation and appropriate solutions were identified. The building is unique by design with lots of corridors, a U-shaped building with a central courtyard, several floors and numerous access points. To address this problem, implementing an adaptive solution was essential.
Challenge
Due to the complexity of the building (comparable to a maze) and the sheer number of evacuation routes, there was no clear and accurate indication of where to go in the event of an emergency.
Therefore, it was difficult to navigate through the building and choose which was the correct route to follow in an emergency scenario.
A change of direction would increase the time for students to safely evacuate the building. Thus, the challenge of creating a clearly indicated route of evacuation was a key priority for the project.
The building required an adaptive evacuation system that considers building complexity and potential scenarios for evacuation, depending on the different types of risk. This would enable the public, in this case the students and teachers, to be led safely out of the building in an orderly manner.
The new installation needed to be adapted and operational with the existing security system, including the design and compartmentation of the security and detection zones.
In specific building areas, a fire would prevent access to certain exit routes. Viable alternatives were therefore needed to provide an optimal level of safety.
Solutions
Static emergency lighting has been replaced by adaptive lighting. The self-contained evacuation luminaires flash, and the route outline is adapted to the circumstances of the evacuation, to guide people to the nearest and safest exit. Eaton has also worked on implementing dynamic emergency lighting installations that adapt the escape route depending on where the fire is detected by the fire safety system.
To comply with the French standards, all the products have been NF certified (“Normes Françaises” certification is issued to mark compliance with CE standards and French specifications) and submitted to a notice from the safety committee (fire detection system coordinator and control authority) for the validation of the installation. In addition, the performance of each self-contained emergency lighting unit for all scenarios was checked for each fire detection zone.
Results and prospects
As a result, approximately one hundred eco-designed self-contained units from the CrystalWay and Planète ranges were installed at the Riom Art
School. This includes the new Matrix adaptive exit signs on all public and employee access sites which are connected to a CGLine+ system for automated operation and management.
In addition to benefitting from an adaptive evacuation system that considers the complexity of building design and operation according to specific risks, this system has increased building safety by solving a challenge that did not have an obvious solution.
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