Fire alarm BOQ: devices, loops, interfaces and approval

Fire alarm quantities are approved by a civil defence authority, which makes both the omissions and the substitutions expensive. Here is how the take-off is built up.

Fire alarm quantities carry a weight that other low-current systems do not: the design is approved by a civil defence authority, and an error is not merely a commercial problem. This guide covers how the quantities are built up from drawings and what the UAE authorities expect.

1. Detection devices by area type

Detector selection follows the room, not the drawing symbol alone. Smoke detectors in corridors, lobbies and bedrooms; heat detectors in kitchens, car parks and plant rooms where smoke detection would false-alarm; multi-criteria detectors where the specification calls for them.

Count each type separately. A BOQ line reading simply "fire detector" invites the cheapest device and a rejection at inspection.

2. Manual call points and their spacing

Call points sit on escape routes, at every storey exit and at final exits. The governing rule in most specifications is maximum travel distance to a call point. Walk the escape route on the plan rather than counting symbols, and you will catch the ones the designer missed.

3. Sounders, strobes and voice evacuation

Audibility requirements drive sounder quantities, and they are frequently under-counted because a single sounder per floor looks adequate on a drawing and is not adequate in a corridor with fire doors. Where the project requires a voice evacuation system, the speaker count and amplifier sizing replace simple sounders entirely and the cost profile changes substantially.

Visual alarm devices are required in areas where an occupant may not hear an audible alarm — toilets, plant rooms, and increasingly throughout as an accessibility requirement.

4. The panel, loops and loop loading

Address the panel last, because it is a function of everything above. Count the total addressable devices, divide by the loop capacity in the specification, and leave spare capacity — loading a loop to its maximum is a false economy that the authority may reject.

Repeater panels are usually required at the main entrance and at the civil defence access point.

5. Cabling and containment

Fire alarm cabling is fire-rated, and the grade matters to the price. Estimate loop cable by running the loop route on the plan through each device in sequence rather than by a per-device average, because a loop doubles back in a way a camera drop does not.

• Loop cable, fire-rated to the specified grade
• Sounder circuit cable where circuits are conventional
• Dedicated containment — fire alarm cable is generally not permitted to share trunking
• Fire-stopping at every compartment penetration

6. Interfaces — the commonly missed items

A fire alarm system talks to most of the building. Each interface is an addressable module and a line item:

• Lift homing
• Access control door release on alarm
• AHU and ventilation shutdown
• Fire damper monitoring
• Smoke extract and stair pressurisation start
• Sprinkler flow and tamper switch monitoring
• Generator and BMS signalling

UAE: Civil Defence approval

In Dubai, fire alarm design, equipment and installation must comply with the Dubai Civil Defence Fire and Life Safety Code, and DCD approval is required both at design stage and as-built. In Abu Dhabi the equivalent authority is ADCDA, working to the UAE Fire and Life Safety Code.

The practical consequence for your BOQ is that equipment must be from an approved and certified range, and the approval process itself has a programme cost. Substituting an equivalent-looking device from an unapproved manufacturer is not a saving; it is a rejected submission.

Our UAE authority compliance guide sets out which body governs which system.