Fire alarm systems in Dubai Production City (formerly IMPZ) 

Fire alarm systems in Dubai Production City (formerly IMPZ): local context

Dubai Production City, formerly the International Media Production Zone, is a free zone near Al Khail Road combining residential and office towers with light industrial and media-production facilities. It was largely developed from the mid-2000s. Manolia completed MEP for a 2B+G+15 tower with gym here. Plots here are mid-sized and tightly spaced, with towers sharing service roads and neighbouring construction sites.

• Towers with two basement levels need car park ventilation, sump pumps, and drainage designed for groundwater and stormwater ingress.
• Office and media spaces require flexible electrical distribution, UPS-backed circuits and dedicated cooling for equipment-heavy rooms with high sensible loads.
• The area is inland and dusty, so condenser cleaning and filter access are planned into the design.

Building types we serve in Dubai Production City (formerly IMPZ)

For mid-rise residential and mixed-use buildings, the work concentrates on compact plant on the roof, car-park ventilation in podiums, metered apartment DBs and tight ceiling voids that make coordination drawings decisive.

Scope of work

• Review of the fire strategy and preparation of detection layouts, loop diagrams, riser schematics and battery and voltage-drop calculations for consultant and Civil Defence submission.
• Installation of fire-rated cabling, containment and segregation from power circuits, with loop routing that keeps a single cable fault from disabling an entire floor.
• Interface wiring with sprinkler flow and tamper switches, fire pumps, gas suppression panels, kitchen hood systems and the building management system.
• Device-by-device testing with smoke and heat test equipment, sound pressure level checks in occupied rooms, and full cause-and-effect witness testing with all trades.

Systems we install

• Voice evacuation systems with phased messaging for tall buildings and hotels.
• Monitoring connection to the Civil Defence remote alarm system where the authority mandates it.

UAE site and climate challenges

• Dust and sand ingress causes false alarms from optical smoke detectors, especially in villas with frequently opened doors and in warehouses. We select multi-sensor or heat detection where dust is unavoidable and plan detector cleaning into the maintenance routine.
• Humidity spikes on summer nights and condensation near poorly sealed openings can trigger detectors in car parks and plant rooms. Heat detection in unconditioned areas and proper sealing of cable entries reduce nuisance alarms without compromising cover.
• Detector type per room: optical detectors respond quickly to smouldering fires but false-alarm in dusty or steamy spaces, while heat detectors are slower yet far more stable in kitchens, car parks and plant rooms.

Relevant Manolia projects

Frequently asked questions