Smart Fire Protection for Liverpool’s Aquitania

Liverpool’s Aquitania Sets New Standard for Waterfront Living with Cutting-Edge Fire Safety System

Liverpool Waters, a monumental regeneration project breathing new life into the city’s historic docks, has reached a new milestone. The Aquitania development at West Waterloo Place, a key phase in this transformation led by Romal Capital, now boasts a state-of-the-art, fully integrated fire safety solution thanks to a collaboration between Comelit-PAC, Merselec Ltd, and Romal Capital.

This ambitious project transforms Liverpool’s historic docks into a vibrant, mixed-use waterfront. Romal’s Aquitania, with its 135 high-end apartments and townhouses, exemplifies this vision, pairing striking architecture with uncompromising life safety systems.

Greg Malouf, CEO of Romal Capital, emphasizes the project’s commitment to resident well-being: “Resident safety was our highest priority. From the initial design stage, we worked with Comelit-PAC to ensure the fire system would meet legislation alongside the expectations of a smart, stylish development. The installed solution provides the protection we need and the flexibility to manage operations efficiently. We’re already planning to extend the works into our phase four, Mauretania.”

Working closely with specialist contractor Merselec, the team designed a bespoke system covering all escape routes and common areas. Sophisticated programming coordinates fire detection, smoke extraction, and even lift operation, ensuring the building acts as a single, intelligent unit in an emergency.

Smart Technology for Enhanced Safety

A key feature is the integration of automatic opening vents (AOVs). These vents spring into action the moment smoke is detected, while also offering a lockout feature for precise airflow management. This allows for directing smoke away from escape routes, maximizing the safety of residents during evacuation. The system also directly interfaces with the building’s elevators, preventing their use during an incident for added safety.

Jon Wilcock of Merselec highlights the technical complexity of the project: “The integration requirements and performance standards made this a technically demanding project. Our close collaboration with Comelit-PAC allowed us to deliver a robust system that performs reliably in a live residential environment and could be installed to blend with its luxury surroundings.”

Remote Monitoring for Peace of Mind

To streamline day-to-day management, Comelit-PAC incorporated cloud-based remote monitoring. This gives building managers real-time status updates and instant alerts, enabling swift incident response and proactive maintenance.

A Collaborative Approach

Mandy Bowden, Fire Manager at Comelit-PAC, underscores the importance of teamwork: “Aquitania’s complexity required a carefully coordinated approach that blended technical performance with the building and apartments aesthetic design principles. Our partnership with Merselec delivered a tailored solution with remote monitoring capabilities, ensuring both resident safety and ease of management. We look forward to continuing our work together on phase three.”

The success of the Aquitania project has paved the way for further collaboration. Comelit-PAC and Merselec are already working on the specification phase for Romal’s next waterfront development, the Mauretania. This exciting project will add 129 new apartments to Liverpool Waters’ burgeoning Central Docks neighborhood, further solidifying the city’s West Waterloo Place as a premier destination.