Thomas Miller upgrades security and CCTV systems with Commend UK

(11/09/2009)

Thomas Miller is a London based company operating in the Financial Market. Underwriting Insurers, they have worked alongside many companies operating out of the Commonwealth, and predominantly within the Shipping market.

As part of their development, the company decided to move location to the old Zurich Insurance Building at 90 Fenchurch Street. The whole building, whilst architecturally endearing from the outside, needed to be completely re-built internally, with new internal offices, office equipment, security systems, CCTV and a reception area.

John Morgan of Service Com acted for the company as a Consultant for the procurement of the security and CCTV solutions. John has worked with Commend UK Ltd (the new name for Complus Teltronic Ltd), for many years, and knew that a system from Commend would be the best solution for the customer, achieving high quality of speech, reliability and would be future proof.

There are six floors in the Thomas Miller building, five of which are occupied by the Underwriters. To ensure there is communication throughout the building, especially in times of emergency, it was decided to put loudspeakers on all floors and hide them under the ceiling tiles in all except the basement floor. These Penton Loudspeakers supplied by Sisys, connect to the Commend system using KE 520’s (Amplifiers) and operate over the IP (Internet Protocol) network using Commend’s ET 901’s (IP Gateway’s).

In the reception area, an EE 811 hands free Master station is used to make announcements throughout the building and to receive and make calls to the entrances. Mounted on this station is a small CCTV monitor. This screen is split into four live images which take views from the four entrances. When a call is made, the operator can see where the call is coming from on the Master station, but can also verify them on the monitor. The image can then be made larger on the screen so that the operator can see and talk to the caller. There are four main entrances, each of which has a Commend Slave station so that visitors can call to request access.

The main requirements were for all the security systems in the building to run over IP and for the entire system to be current, for at least 10 – 15 years. Access intercom was required at all entrances to the building and a public address system on all floors, from the basement to the 6th for both security and emergency announcements. CCTV cameras needed to be installed around the exterior of the building to verify who callers are and for general security surveillance.

Access Intercom was needed at the following entrances:
• Goods In entrance
• VIP entrance
• Main entrance
• Underground car park
• Front entrance

The whole building only took 18 weeks to complete from being a shell to full occupation, this included the full security package.

Each intercom station calls back to an EE 811 Master station situated in the main foyer. On this master station is a small monitor. This screen shows a picture split into 4. Each of these images shows a camera shot of each of the entrances, so that the operator can see who is calling.

A secondary Master station is housed in the Facility Managers office which also has all the functionality of the reception Master station. With the versatility of the Commend IP solution, the whole system in London, including integrated CCTV can be operated by Thomas Millers’ other office on the Isle of Man.

Commend Equipment:
8 x KE 520 (Amplifier)
14 x ET 901 (IP Gateway)
2 x EE 811 (Commend Master Station)
2 x TFT Monitors (Master mounted Monitors)
1 x GE 700 (Digital Communication Server)
1 x COMWIN GUI
4 x SS 101DC (Digital camera Slave Stations)
4 x custom made housings for ET 901 and KE 520, power supplies and NVR’s

Tim Hasslegrave, the Contracts Manager for Thomas Miller stated “The quality of speech that we get is good, our main problem was with ambient noise from the street outside meaning that the people answering the calls could not hear what was being said”

The Commend Intercom equipment has resolved this via its adjustable ambient noise level settings, enabling volume levels to be set to enhance speech and reduce background noise.

All the speakers from ground floor up, linked to the Intercom System have been hidden above the ceiling panels. This enhances the safety and security of the personnel within it, but preserves the architecture of the building. Sisys and Chubb were the installation teams for this project – chosen by John Morgan due to their high technical expertise.

“The security package, including the products from Commend met my requirements.” comments John “My main concern was in satisfying the customers, and meeting their expectations. The Commmend equipment is fully future proof and should be expandable for at least the next 10 – 15 years”.

Related topics:  Building access control system   Digital CCTV   IP monitoring   Public Address system   Security guarding 

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