Residents can rest assured that our co-op has been built to high standards of safety.
Some basics of our buildings
- Old Grace Housing Co-operative consists of:
- a three-storey residential building located at 200 Arlington Street, including
- a free-standing fourplex (4 bedroom), and
- four townhouses (3 bedroom) located on Evanson Street at Preston Avenue.
- The Arlington building is 67,000 square feet
- The Evanson building is 4,800 square feet
- The building construction is wood frame
How is safety built into our buildings?
Arlington site
- The building is equipped with sprinklers throughout.
- Each unit and hallway has hard-wired smoke detectors with backup batteries in the event of a power outage. Spaces that are in close proximity to a source of carbon monoxide (such as suites above the Mechanical Room or parking lot) also have carbon monoxide detectors built into their smoke detectors.
- There is a fire alarm panel in the front vestibule that is monitored by Cambridge Security Systems/Fire Tech Systems.
- Inside the panel is a list of suites of people requiring assistance out of the building.
- Emergency lighting is also monitored, and is located in the hallways, stairwells and all common areas.
- Fire alarm pull stations and multipurpose fire extinguishers are located in every wing, in each suite in our four-plex, at each stairwell, and in the common areas.
- Floorplans indicating the location of stairs, pull stations and fire extinguishers are located in each wing of the main building as well as the basement.
- The fire alarm system can be activated if someone pulls the alarm, by heat or smoke detection, and/or the sprinkler flow switch.
- Fire/smoke barriers are built in to keep flames and smoke from spreading to other parts of the building.
- Several fire stations are close by. Wolseley is served by the fire stations at Osbrone and Stradbrook and Portage and Route 90.
- Two fire hydrants are located on Evanson, two on Arlington.
- Emergency vehicles can access the building from all sides, as well as the back lane and parking lot.
Evanson site
- The Evanson site is a separate fire alarm system, so if the alarm goes off, it will not set off the alarm on Arlington and visa versa.
- Evanson was designed and built by the same companies that created the main site, and appropriate safety features were duplicated in the townhouse complex.
- A separate fire plan will be prepared for Evanson residents.