Telford Shopping Centre chooses PRAESENSA solution
On 25 acres of commercial space, Telford Shopping Centre in the UK offers a selection of retail stores, restaurants, as well as hotels and a cinema. Sound is a key part of the customer experience, from ambient music to customer announcements and safety messages. The shopping mall operator was looking to upgrade the existing public address system with a future-proof and IP-networked solution. Enter the new public address and voice alarm system from Bosch.
Next generation voice alarm system for retail environments
From the start, PRAESENSA managed to keep installation costs low for the new shopping center public address system without sacrificing performance. System integrators were able to refurbish the existing loudspeakers installed at Telford Centre across 16 zones via minor modifications on the end lines. This required only replacing the obsolete control equipment – including a cumbersome call station with analog buttons – and amplifiers for an upgrade to the latest generation of IP-based audio system.
The upgrade is most notable in the call station that puts personnel in full control per touch screen with an intuitive graphic user interface. Managed via OMNEO media networking technology, the software-based system combines recordings from various media sources, including ambient music in MP3 format, commercials from a message library, plus end-of-day mall closing messages running on automated schedules. In case of an emergency, the public address system integrates with the fire alarm system to play pre-recorded alerts and evacuation messages targeted to specific zones. At any time, shopping center security personnel can send live voice messages and manually trigger the evacuation protocol.
Secure and fail-proof from the start
Out of the box, PRAESENSA meets the latest standards as a fully secure IP solution. All control equipment is connected via Secure IP, including encryption and authentication for complete protection against eavesdropping and hacking. The system also fulfills the needs of shopping center operators for around-the-clock availability: All critical system elements are supported by built-in redundancy to avoid outages, plus fault notification within 100 seconds meeting EN54-16 standards.
“We were very pleased with the installation of the equipment by North which caused minimal disruption and they also managed to keep us operational whilst the Shopping Centre was open. We are extremely happy with the quality and operation of the new Bosch equipment and the team are finding the system easy to use. Its of paramount importance to have a reliable system and this is definitely ticking all the boxes,” said Chris Titley, Facilities Manager, Savills (Telford Centre).
