Vox Ignis equips Scholes Village with emergency communications

An Enhanced Public Address system with integrated Emergency Voice Communications has been installed across seven residential towers at Scholes Village in Wigan.

Vox Ignis has supplied the system as part of an upgrade programme covering seven towers and 700 apartments, designed to improve safety and wellbeing for current and future residents.

Based on the company’s Unicorn Voice platform, the Enhanced Public Address (EPA) system operates independently of the fire alarm. It enables building managers and emergency services to broadcast live or recorded messages to selected apartments, floors, stairwells and communal areas during an incident.

Integrated Emergency Voice Communications (EVC) also provides communication between incident managers and first responders, while disabled refuge facilities allow occupants who require evacuation assistance to call for help.

The system is compliant with BS EN 50849:2017 and certified to EN 54-16 by UL. Each tower has one master EPA panel, incorporating a fist microphone and fire telephone, alongside three distributed EPA panels connected through a redundant, fault-tolerant network.

Vox Ignis’ VoxOS touchscreen interface displays system status and provides access to control and programming functions. Programmable Unicorn Buttons enable users to send pre-recorded messages to selected zones at the press of a button.

More than 1,000 Vox Ignis loudspeakers have been installed across the development. Over 160 vandal-resistant Type C outstations combine disabled refuge and fire telephone functions within the fire-protected stairwells. Each panel supports four loudspeaker circuits and eight combined fire telephone and disabled refuge lines.

Leeds-based Elite Audio Ltd supplied and commissioned the system, with installation managed by Fieldway. Elite Audio’s sales director, Dominic Carney, said the combination of emergency voice communication, public address and voice alert functions enabled the team to design a system around Wigan’s specific requirements.

Councillor Susan Gambles, Wigan Council’s cabinet portfolio holder for housing, described the investment as an important part of the council’s commitment to tenant safety and wellbeing.

Vox Ignis is an ISCVE Supporting Member