With 35 years’ experience in the industry, Gavin Bell is the Fire & Security Manager at A.Alexander & Son (Electrical) in Glasgow. Areas of expertise for the business are intruder, fire, CCTV, access control, nurse call with accreditations including NSI Silver and BAFE Silver.
What would be a typical project for you?
Anything including domestic, retail, commercial, industrial and Care Homes. I joined A.Alexander & Son (Electrical) in 2019, to head up a new fire and security division to complement their established electrical and mechanical divisions. We trade under the name Alexander & Bell (Fire & Security). The goal of the division was to provide a one stop shop for the large number of main contractors the company has worked with for several years. We have somewhat specialised in the care home sector having completed six new homes and several refurbs within the two and a half years I have been with the company. All the while building up our domestic and commercial customer bases.
Do you have any ‘go to’ technology and manufacturers?
For intruder systems we stick to Honeywell Galaxy and Pyronix. The broad range of products provided allows us to install the most appropriate solution for any customer requirements. The Enforcer system has proven to be extremely popular with domestic customers with the easy to set up and use mobile app being very appealing.
For fire alarms our preference is for Advanced control panels and Hochiki devices. Both products provide engineer friendly interfaces and installation advantages.
Dahua is our go to for CCTV installs, with a large range of high-definition full colour cameras and easy to navigate NVRs it is a big hit with clients and engineers alike.
We stick to Paxton for access control – it is a proven performer in this category and provides solutions for all our requirements.
Working in the care sector we have installed a number of nurse call systems with the C-Tec Quantec system being our preference for hard wired systems and Aidcall for wireless systems.
What is the best thing about working in this industry?
For me the best thing is delivering quality systems and solutions to our clients that fulfil their needs. I have always been a great believer in listening to the customer and providing a system that they actually want and need. I pride myself in going that extra mile to ensure that happens and in providing the best after care service and maintenance for the systems.
Read the full interview in the November 2021 edition of PSI magazine.
