Located in the heart of the city, the Birmingham Plaza is a comprehensive family leisure and entertainment centre. The site offers several options for entertainment for the whole family - making it a key destination for many. Among these is the UK's biggest cinema chain - Odeon. The Birmingham Plaza Odeon has an impressive twelve screens - including a "big screen, big sensation, isense 4K screen".
Odeon approached PFS regarding the replacement of the voice alarm system installed on the premises and PFS was delighted to win the project. A full site survey and an assessment of the necessary works was produced. PFS then placed their order with Baldwin Boxall for their VIGIL2 voice alarm system.
A phased installation was planned to ensure that any down time and disruption was kept to an absolute minimum. To achieve this, it was necessary to install the new voice alarm equipment alongside the existing system, with loudspeaker circuits being transferred gradually over to the new voice alarm racks. Strictly adhering to 'good practice' methods throughout the project, PFS checked all loudspeaker circuits, prior to the migration; clearing any faults found ensured that the new system would be fault free at the time of changeover. One by one, each circuit was disconnected and re-routed to the correct circuit within minutes.
Talking about the project, Pete Ford (risk management director, Odeon) said, "Odeon prides itself on providing exceptional service and entertainment facilities throughout the UK. To ensure that this reputation is maintained, we need all suppliers and products to be of a very high standard. PFS were professional throughout the process and we are very pleased with the installation. The sound quality of the system is really good and the facilities it provides us with are exactly as we need."
Director Andrew Cowen commented, "We are very pleased with the way this project went - the effort during the planning stage prior to installation really paid off. We chose Baldwin Boxall's VIGIL system because we knew that we could totally rely on the quality and could trust that it would function as it was supposed to. We are absolutely committed to providing a quality service and know that Baldwin Boxall will not let us down."
The VIGIL2 system on the site is a four zone system comprising of fifty circuits. It is built into a 43U high rack enclosure and provides zonal paging and background music. Being a voice alarm system, it is fully monitored and battery backed to ensure it will operate even if the mains power fails.
(Jim Evans)
