Since 1976 the Museum of London has offered visitors a unique insight into the city's history and holds many millions of historical artefacts. On the 28 May 2010 five new galleries opened to the public, telling the story of the capital from the 1666 Great Fire of London right up to the present day, at a cost of £20m.
The extensive redevelopment gives easier public access to the many exhibits as well as a new learning centre, cafe and architectural features. It also benefits from a state of the art fire alarm system using Prysmian FP Plus cable
Specialist fire and electrical firm, Wessex Fire and Security, won the contract to install the fire alarm system in this new museum area. Installations manager Paul Budden said, "We have made exclusive use of Prysmian FP for the past 5-6 years as we know it is by far the best product in the marketplace for the work we carry out and our engineers like it as it is quick and easy to install. We chose FP for this particular job and there were no problems with the installation of the cable or its supply."
In fact it was a complex project as the Museum had to stay open to the public throughout the nine month redevelopment; the existing fire alarm had to remain fully functional until the new system was online and despite this the new system was installed on time.
Budden continued, "We decided to work with a network of four Gent Vigilon control panels and a BS5839 Part 8 compliant PA/VA system for the public areas. Into this we installed nearly 20,000 metres of FP Plus cable in the fire alarm panels, addressable loops and voice alarm speaker circuits to and from the voice alarm amplifiers."
The Museum of London is now fully open and the new galleries will help communicate London's history, archaeology and contemporary cultures to all those who come through the doors.