SigNET's LS voice alarm system has been installed at Halifax's newly renovated Shay Stadium. In a project costing £4.5 million, the East Stand has been completely transformed to include 3,500 seats and a fabulous new banqueting suite overlooking the pitch. An impressive array of changing rooms, control rooms, offices, shops and classrooms has also been created beneath the stand. Linking it all together is SigNET's powerful LS system.

Featuring a state-of-the-art LCD touch screen, the LS is a highly sophisticated and effective VA, PA and background music system. At its heart is the SS2N network station which allows the amplifiers, fire alarm interfaces, audio inputs, and manual and automatic controllers to be distributed around the stadium. In the event of an emergency, the system will evacuate the entire site. However, one of the most important end user features of the system is its use for day- to-day paging and music distribution.

Says Steve Hutchinson of Tate Security Technology Ltd, the company that installed the system: "LS is a truly exceptional product which was ideal for a complex site of this nature. The fact that SigNET's products are all manufactured in the UK is a big selling point as we need to be confident a company can provide not just the equipment but the technical training and customer support a project of this type demands too. From initial design stage right through to installation and commissioning, SigNET handled the entire project professionally".

Continues Steve: "Other key considerations in the specification of the LS was its high reliability factor, its compatibility with the XFP addressable fire alarm which is installed at the site, ease of front end operation and on-screen graphics via a high specification PC based touch screen. The system offers stadium security staff an ultimately simplistic fault alarm management diagnosis and there is no need for specialist bespoke software."

The two C-TEC XFP networkable fire alarm control panels in operation at the site are installed in the main reception and stadium match safety control room. These were specified for their reliability, user- friendliness and capacity to be integrated into the stand's PA/VA system. One of SigNET's SigTEL disabled refuge systems has also been fitted at the stadium. 

A Quantec addressable call system provides the disabled washrooms in the stadium with alarm facilities. Says Steve: "Quantec certainly gives staff peace of mind as they can be confident that any assistance alarms will be responded to on both match and non-match days. The advantage Quantec has over conventional standalone systems is that it can be programmed to display specific address locations via clear well-lit displays. The system does not just consider localized audible and visual indication but also manned areas where centralized assistance is given quickly as calls are identified clearly via a large LCD display.