printer friendly version

Integrated scheme at shopping centre

The 39 000 m^² Chimes Shopping Centre development in the heart of Uxbridge, West London, is the latest state-of-the-art retail development to be opened by major developer Capital Shopping Centres.

Chimes provides three shopping levels with a total of 81 stores, cafes and restaurants. The project also incorporates the refurbishment of a grade 2 listed building, the partial rebuilding/refurbishment of a historic locally listed building and the re-creation of two timber 15th and 16th century frame buildings, which had previously been in storage for over 15 years.

Challenging specification

The BMS specification drawn up by Ove Arup & Partners called for a fully integrated system, to include interoperability between the fire detection, heating and ventilation, airconditioning and CCTV systems. All of these were to be managed from a PC package in the control room, with client software connected over IP in the managers' offices.

Cause and effect

The visual confirmation of fire alarms was of key importance to the client and this became the primary function of the integration scheme. A Ziton ZP3 fire panel is connected to the Compass system along with CCTV controls from Pelco. The primary function of this connection is to enable a cause and effect strategy that moves the position of a pan-tilt camera to any active fire zone and automatically display the camera image on a dedicated 'fire monitor'. The result of this strategy is that the on-site security and engineering team can quickly approximate the number of people in the active zone and the seriousness of the fire, in order to optimise the effectiveness of their subsequent actions.

Power monitoring

The site is equipped with Autometers IC2000 power meters which monitor incoming mains and loading across different aspects of the site. The Compass system provides data from the meters that can be viewed, logged and monitored by the ObSys management software system. Logging channels within the Cylon Unitron HVAC controls are used to store historical data, and these data logs are then archived periodically by the ObSys software.

Shop alarm messaging

The central Shop Alert system provides instant messaging to individual or groups of shops for security threats, thefts and general warnings. Any alarms or warnings sent by the Shop Alert system are additional routed into the ObSys package for archiving and analysis. The Shop Alert was specially enhanced to communicate directly with the Compass system, linking to a Compass Point supporting the open standard COL protocol.

Share this article:

Further reading: