With its powerful controllers and extensive arrangement of fire telephone and disabled refuge outstations, the system is central to protecting the state-of-the-art UK offices of one of the world's most successful software and technology-based companies.

However, according to David King, Installation Manager at Niscayah Group, the company that completed the project at Market House, the installation was far from straightforward as the building already had a Sigtel disabled refuge system installed on one floor which needed to be connected to new equipment so to create one large system for the entire four-storey building.

Said David: "The challenge was to interface an additional master controller and various outstations to the equipment already in operation. To achieve this we temporarily suspended the system and used C-Tec's new EVC423 software to completely reprogramme it once the new controller and outstations had been installed."

Although specifically designed for the programming of larger Sigtel systems, C-Tec's new EVC423 is also excellent for programming smaller disabled refuge/emergency voice evacuation systems.

Said David: "The software proved to be a lifesaver on this particular project as it enabled us to programme the entire system from scratch very quickly reducing system downtime. The fact that you can edit outstation/extension names using a PC makes programming so much quicker and easier"

As a result, Market House now has a fully operational disabled refuge/ emergency voice evacuation system. In an emergency situation, the system will enable clear two-way communication between building management and people located in the refuge areas to, firstly, assist rescue teams in finding people and, secondly, to let stranded people know that help is on the way.

Based in London, Niscayah Group is a subsidiary of Swedish- headquartered Niscayah AB (formerly known as Securitas Systems AB).