Member Article

Firm's plan to increase production of fire safety boxes

A North East engineering company that has developed a secure fire safety box for large apartment blocks is planning on gearing up production. Evak Engineering designed the FireDocBox solution to store important documents and keys that housing companies use to manage the safety of their buildings. Documents including building plans and the location of fire hydrants and fire doors are kept within the box to help fire crews during emergencies and safety checks. Keys, such as those to access gas cupboards, are also kept within them to help crews deal with emergency situations. After making prototypes, the team at Evak came up with a highly fireproof solution that is now being rolled out to a number of property management firms, including Your Homes Newcastle who manage 26,000 properties across Newcastle on behalf of Newcastle City Council. Steven Studley, Compliance Manager at Your Homes Newcastle, said: “The safety of our multi-storey blocks is a priority for us and we’re interested in any solutions that help to keep our customers and our buildings safe.
“Previously, we have had different types of safe boxes across our blocks but we work closely with our local fire service and we were keen to introduce a bespoke box with a special bi-lock system that would allow fire officers to easily identify and access them when they need to.
“We are delighted that Evak have offered a perfect, value for money solution.” Paul Keast, Managing Director of Wallsend-based Evak, said that due to the popularity of the boxes, other property management firms have since ordered and are using FireDocBox. He said: “I am thrilled that we were able to provide a solution that meets the needs of Your Homes Newcastle. FireDocBox is as fire-resistant as anything possibly can be. As well as an area to store all the relevant documents, there are places for keys. “We have worked with a specialist manufacturer that produces locks that are extremely secure. These locks already used for other equipment used by the fire brigade, so they have the special keys already. The end result was welcomed by Your Homes Newcastle and we are now receiving orders from other property management companies.” One of those is Brannen & Partners, which manages more than 200 apartment blocks across the North East. They have already placed an order for 40 of the boxes with more orders being planned. Wendy Crosland, Property Manager for Brannen & Partners, said: “So far, I have ordered 35 for the properties I manage and I know other property managers are ordering them. “The FireDocBox is very helpful in our larger developments and contain extra information such as site maps, which are more crucial in light of the Grenfell Tower fire. At those developments with elderly residents, we can also inform the fire crews of those who need extra assistance by placing the information within the box.” Evak’s Paul Keast added: “It has been a pleasure working with everyone on this project. We focus on providing metal engineering solutions to our customers and have a long history of working with other companies to provide the highest quality standards of workmanship and final product.”

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