Blog
Articles on building engineering systems and fire safety.
Addressable vs conventional fire alarm: how to choose
How conventional and addressable fire alarms differ, how much of a building one wiring fault can disable, and when the rules require an addressable system.
Backup power for buildings: generator, UPS and ATS
Reliability categories, how a generator, a UPS and an automatic transfer switch share the work, and what keeps fire safety systems running in a blackout.
Fire safety audit: what is checked and what you get
What a fire safety audit covers, the failures inspectors find most often, what the owner receives, and how audits work in the UK, Russia and Azerbaijan.
FM-200, Novec 1230 or Inergen: how to choose
How FM-200, Novec 1230 and Inergen put out fires, how safe they are for people in the room, how fast they discharge and what the 2026 rules on HFCs mean.
MEP design and installation: from site survey to commissioning
What MEP covers, how a building services project runs from survey to handover, and why testing the systems together pays off: data from 1,500 buildings.
Smoke control: stair pressurization and smoke extraction
Why smoke kills more people than flames, how stair pressurization and smoke extraction work, why ventilation stops in a fire and which values the codes set.
Voice evacuation and emergency lighting: what gets people out
Why a siren alone rarely starts an evacuation, what a good voice message says, and what the standards require for alarm loudness and emergency lighting.