South Belfast has an unusually high proportion of property that somebody rents rather than lives in permanently. The streets around Queen's University and Botanic carry a dense concentration of shared houses and converted flats, and a great deal of the fire and security work here is generated by that fact rather than by burglary. Detection in a shared house, door entry that survives a change of tenants every summer, and a landlord who needs to know the system still works are the recurring themes.
The building stock complicates it. Large Victorian and Edwardian villas along the Malone and Lisburn Road corridors were built as single houses and have since been divided into flats, offices, consulting rooms and sometimes all three. The original layout fights the modern use: escape routes run through what were reception rooms, services were added in layers, and the cabling that suited one household is nothing like what a building with several front doors behind one front door needs.
Alongside that sits a strip of independent commercial premises, particularly along the Lisburn Road, where salons, cafés, clinics and small shops occupy ground floors with accommodation or offices above them. Those units have their own set of questions about who is responsible for what, and they are usually best answered before equipment is chosen.
What can be installed here
The Four Systems, as They Apply in South Belfast
Each of these links back to the full description of the service. What is below is how it tends to play out on South Belfast property specifically.
Detection for shared houses, flats and converted villas
Where a building houses several separate households, fire detection is judged against the building and its fire risk assessment rather than against a domestic standard. Whether the property is licensed, how the escape route runs and how the floors are separated all bear on what is appropriate. If you are a landlord or a managing agent, say how the property is occupied when you enquire, because that is the detail that changes the answer.
In a building where occupancy turns over regularly, keys are the weak point: they get copied, kept and not handed back. Managed entry lets a fob be cancelled the day someone moves out. The work sits in the door hardware, safe egress and any link to the fire alarm, so the door itself usually gets more attention than the reader on the wall.
Alarms for lets, family homes and consulting rooms
An alarm in a let has to be usable by somebody who did not choose it and may only be there for a year, which pushes the design towards simplicity. A family home on the Malone or Stranmillis side is a different exercise again, often with more ground to cover and more glazing at the rear. Both start with the entry points and the way the building is actually used day to day.
Cameras for shopfronts, side returns and shared bin stores
Along the Lisburn Road the recurring camera jobs are shopfronts, rear service doors and the shared bin and bike stores behind converted buildings, which is where most of the nuisance actually happens. Positions have to be chosen carefully in a dense residential street so the useful view is of your own property. It is worth reading the Information Commissioner's Office guidance on video surveillance before settling positions.
MK Fire & Security NI covers the whole of south Belfast, from Botanic and the university streets out along the Malone and Lisburn Road corridors. Work is carried out at the property, and there is no public premises anywhere. Tell Martin whether it is a home, a let or a commercial unit and the conversation starts from the right place.
Questions
South Belfast: Questions Martin Is Asked
These are the questions that come up on South Belfast properties. If yours is not here, call and ask it directly.
I let a shared house near the university. What fire detection is expected?
That depends on the property, how many separate households live in it, whether it is licensed and what the fire risk assessment for the building concludes. It is not something that can be answered from a postcode. Describe the house, the number of bedrooms and the escape route and Martin will tell you what he would need to see.
Tenants change every year and keys never come back. What can be done about that?
This is the usual argument for moving a shared entrance from keys to fobs or codes, because access can be withdrawn without changing a lock. The practical questions are the condition of the door, how it releases in an emergency and whether it interfaces with the fire alarm, which all need looking at on site.
Do you work with letting agents and property managers?
Enquiries from agents and managing agents are welcome, and so are enquiries from the owner directly. What matters more is knowing who instructs the work, who holds the fire risk assessment and who is responsible for the common parts, so it is worth saying at the start.
Our building has flats above a shop on the Lisburn Road. Who is responsible for the fire alarm?
That is determined by the leases and by the fire risk assessment for the building rather than by the installer, and it is worth establishing before anything is quoted. What can be said is that a system serving several households is scoped against the whole building, not against one unit, so the answer changes what the work looks like.
Can a salon or clinic have cameras without recording clients?
Camera positions can be chosen to cover an entrance, a till or a rear door without covering treatment areas, and in a premises where people expect privacy that distinction really matters. What is appropriate is a decision for you as the operator, and the Information Commissioner's Office publishes guidance worth reading before deciding.
The villa is subdivided and the escape route runs through the hall. Does that affect where detectors go?
Yes, considerably. In a converted building the protected route is usually where detection matters most, and the layout that resulted from the conversion drives the design far more than the age of the building does. Photographs of the hall, the stairs and each floor level help before a visit.
Is it worth alarming a rented flat, or is that the landlord's job?
It depends entirely on the tenancy and what you have agreed with the owner. Anything fixed to the building normally needs the landlord's consent, so that is the first conversation to have. Once that is settled the design question is the same as anywhere else.
Can access control be added to an existing communal door?
Often it can, but the door decides it. Its condition, the type of lock, how it self closes and how it must behave in an emergency all have to be assessed before anything is recommended. Send a photograph of the door and the existing lock with your enquiry.
Do you cover Stranmillis, Botanic and the Malone Road?
Yes, along with Ballynafeigh, Ormeau and the streets running off the Lisburn Road. The property types across south Belfast vary widely, so describing the building is more useful than naming the district.
We have a bin store behind the building that gets misused. Would a camera help?
It might, though a camera records rather than prevents, and a light or a lock sometimes does more. If a camera is the right answer, the position needs to cover your own store rather than the neighbouring yards it usually sits between, which takes a look at the site.
How do I start an enquiry for a south Belfast property?
Send the address or postcode, say whether it is a home, a let, a shared house or a commercial unit, and describe what you want the system to do. Photographs of any existing panel, detectors or communal door are useful. Use the form on this page or call 028 9600 5164.
Send the postcode, the type of property and a short description of what you need. Martin will use that to discuss the requirement and the next appropriate step.
