Prysmian serves up fire protection at Wimbledon

Prysmian achieved another important result in the strategic and high value added sector of Fire Performance cables (FP). The Company has been awarded a prestigious contract for the supply and installation of high performance cables, including Fire Resistant cables and Low Smoke Zero Halogen cables (LS0H), to ensure spectator safety in Wimbledon’s new Centre Court. With up to 470,000 visitors expected over the 2 weeks from 23rd June to 6th July and over 6,000 staff employed during this period, having the best fire safety protection was of paramount importance for the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Prysmian is a leading player in the FP cables market, thus it has also been recently involved in other relevant development projects where life safety systems take on a critical meaning: the cabling of the Burj Dubai Tower, the tallest manmade structure in the world, and the Twickenham Stadium, the home of England Rugby.

“We are really proud of this new achievement, which confirms Prysmian’s increasing growth in the field of building safety. Prysmian has developed and invested significant resources to focus on higher value added products, such as Fire Performance cables, and we’re satisfied by the results gained in this market and for the appreciation shown by our customers – said Hans Hoegstedt, Power Distribution, Trade & Installers Director.”
For the Wimbledon Tennis court, Prysmian will supply and install special FP cables, in accordance with the standard requirements developed in the UK, where Prysmian has been the market leader for 25 years. Both these cable families are used for all applications where safety must be guaranteed: in the case of fire, Fire-Resistant cables continue to operate and Low Smoke Zero Halogen cables have a reduced emission of toxic gas and smoke.

In particular, Prysmian used FP200 Gold in Wimbledon’s new Centre Court because of its ease of installation, it is recommended by the relevant authorities, and meets all the required industry standards. FP200 Gold has been used to power the fire alarm system in the new and improved Centre Court. The highly durable cable, which uses Insudite damage resistant insulation, is the cable of choice to ensure the safety of spectators, players and employees at Wimbledon.

FP200 Gold is approved for fire detection and fire alarm critical signal paths in BS5839 – 1:2002 ‘standard’ application areas, voice alarm systems to BS 5839-8:1998 (AMD 2006) and emergency lighting systems to BS5266-1:2005. FP200 Gold’s ease of use hugely benefited the installation process. The cable is easy to terminate therefore making installation quick and simple. Adding to the straightforward installation, Wimbledon have been using the FP Firefix double clip to fix the FP200 Gold cable. FP Firefix uses ITW Spit Pulsa gas nailing technology to nail the fixing into position into a variety of substrates. This method is an extremely fast way to fix the cable.

Prysmian has always lead the research and development of materials and in the production of technologies and is constantly investing in testing - the Company has 7 R&D centres worldwide - to develop new and advanced products, above all in terms of safety.

Prysmian
A leading player in the industry of high-technology cables and systems for energy and telecommunication, the Prysmian Group is a truly global company with sales exceeding 5 billion euro in 2006 and a strong position in higher-added value market segments. With its two businesses, Energy Cables & Systems (submarine and underground cables for power transmission and distribution, for industrial applications and for the distribution of electricity to residential and commercial buildings) and Telecom Cables & Systems (optical cables and fibres and copper cables for video, data and voice transmission), Prysmian boasts a global presence with subsidiaries in 35 countries, 54 plants in 21 countries, 7 Research & Development Centres in Europe, USA and South America, and over 12,000 employees. Specialising in the development of products and systems designed to meet clients' specific requirements, Prysmian's key strengths include: a focus on Research & Development, the capacity to innovative on products and production processes, and the use of advanced proprietary technologies. Prysmian is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange Blue Chip index.