A radio-based EVC retrofit at Innocent Drinks’ head office
Founded in 1998, Innocent produces drinks such as smoothies and juices, which it sells in nearly two dozen countries.
Over 760 employees work for the company from 14 different locations – including its flagship HQ, ‘Fruit Towers’, which is located in central London.
The company has developed a strong reputation for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and says it has “big dreams to help people and the planet”, such as a mission to be carbon neutral by 2025.
Innocent is focused on being a truly inclusive and diverse place to work – for example, in 2021 it became a Disability Confident employer.
The Challenge
When it came to the topic of fire safety – and managing the safe evacuation of all people from Fruit Towers should there ever be an emergency on site – Innocent recognised the importance of being responsible and compliant in this area.
An appropriate emergency voice communication system (ECVS) was therefore required, which would be installed in disabled refuge areas throughout the building. In the event of an emergency, this system could be used to help with the evacuation of disabled people.
Fruit Towers is a busy working office, so it was important that the ECVS could be installed thoroughly but quickly, so as to minimise disruption to employees and visitors on-site.
The office comprises of over 14,500 sq ft, arranged over several floors and featuring a number of refuge areas – all of which required individual outstations that would need to integrate within a single system.
The Solution
The solution provided to Innocent Drinks was the installation of our BS5838-9-compliant Refuge Alerter system – a wireless EVC system which could be set up to facilitate radio-based coverage throughout the building.
The wireless aspect of this system meant that it could be retrofitted into the existing building –without the need for extensive or intrusive cabling.
User-friendly outstations (designed to be used by people with both physical and sensory disabilities) would be installed in a number of refuge locations – with each of these outstations feeding back to a single, centralised Master Station.
The Result
The wireless EVC system is now in place, enabling two-way voice communication between outstations in refuge areas, and the centralised Master Station.
We also linked the building’s toilet pull cords in… so now Innocent has one single, wireless EVC solution to meet both these needs.
The wireless nature of the system also meant that the job could be completed quickly, with minimum disruption in this busy office.
In fact, the Alerter Group team was able to complete installation of the system in less than one working week!
