The new station includes a parking garage for four fire fighter trucks, a workshop, a dressing room and a canteen with a briefing room. Because of 24-hour shifts a living room is also included for the brigades, plus two bedrooms and a bathroom. The project is still in the design stage at the moment, says Maurice Hoffman, director of Hoffman Elektro, the electrician in this project. The new construction of the fire station is carried out in a cooperative building team. Hoffman Elektro is responsible for consulting and design of all electrical systems. In a later phase of the project, the company will also provide the engineering, supply and installation of these systems, including the fire alarm, data, burglary and lightning protection systems.
The technical design specification from the Firefighter department Gooi en Vecht serves as the basis for the design, says Hoffman. “This contains an outline of the needs of the firefighters. Starting from the illuminance (lux) in a given room up to the desired number of sockets and switches.” A special switch in this regard concerns the turnout switch, he says. “Whenever there is a fire in the town and all volunteers come to the station to clear out, they can open all doors and turn on all lights with the touch of a button. The fire fighters will no longer lose valuable time this way.”

The design phase is now nearing completion, says Hoffman. In the short term he hopes to start the engineering of all systems. “The preliminary draft has been created in DDS-CAD. We have chosen this software because it works very fast and easy. For example, light fixtures and sockets can be quickly put in place in the model and DDS-CAD itself generates distribution board documentation, trunks and cables. Previously, when we were still working in AutoCAD and Revit, we had to do this ourselves manually. Now we can perform calculations more accurately when we have a good floor plan. This way, we and our clients will not face (financial) surprises along the way. Parts lists, which can be generated with a mouse click, serve as the basis for the cost calculation.”

An additional benefit of DDS-CAD is that it can switch instantly between 2D and 3D models, he says. “The client has a better idea this way of what is being built and where certain systems and components will be located. For example, we can generate wall drawings on which the client can directly see where the outlets will be positioned. If required, we can virtually walk through the building. Wishes and changes can be made easily upfront, which minimizes the number of modifications we need to do during the implementation phase. The complete construction process definitely benefits from this.”