Press release

Award-winning project with TOA technology: voice alarm system in Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier receives The AVard

TOA's partner ELA PRO was honoured at this year's The AVard awards in Hamburg for the "Voice alarm system in Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier" project. At the awards ceremony on 16 October in the Hamburg exhibition halls, The AVard honoured the best projects, products, companies and minds in the ProAV industry for the sixth time. The ELA PRO project won the "Best Service Integration" category. The installation is based on TOA's VX-3000 voice alarm technology and is the largest and most complex system of its kind in the EMEA region.

Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier is the centrepiece of Hamburg's HafenCity with around 170 shops, restaurants and leisure facilities. The highest security standards apply to the voice alarm system in this highly frequented building complex. A high-performance security concept was developed for the core area, which covers around 100,000 m² of rental space and consists of retail, gastronomy and leisure areas as well as the multi-storey car park with 2,500 parking spaces. 

Elektro Hartmann Anlagen- und Service GmbH entrusted ELA PRO with the planning and implementation of a corresponding voice alarm solution. An SAA system of the type VX-3000 from TOA was chosen for the central technology. ELA PRO realised the factory and assembly planning as well as the installation in accordance with safety level 3 of the VDE 0833-4 standard. This safety level is intended for buildings in which maximum reliability is required, such as in nuclear power plants. To ensure that the failure of one system component does not lead to the complete failure of the system, the entire system has a redundant design and a second, physically separate SAA control centre.

The largest and most complex TOA VX-3000 system in EMEA

The result is the most complex TOA VX-3000 system in the EMEA region: ELA PRO installed an A and a B system at a total of 4 SAA locations. The networking of the locations was implemented via a fully redundant fibre optic ring, so that even the complete disconnection of a fibre optic line does not lead to a failure of the individual systems.

6000 loudspeakers and 300 amplifiers are used. The central technology was housed in 18 system racks, with the A and B systems each having their own technical room. Speakers, which also provide background sound in some areas, ensure very good speech intelligibility in the event of an alarm. An intercom station at the information desk in the mall and others in the offices and in the security centre are used for everyday announcements. In hazardous situations, automated and standardised safety announcements are made in order to give specific instructions and enable an orderly evacuation. One fire brigade call station is available in each of the two systems.

ELA PRO worked closely with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield - the owner, developer and operator of Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier - as well as with Elektro Hartmann, the general contractor responsible for the fire alarm and voice alarm system, and with TOA Electronics Europe. ELA PRO, a brand of Mediasystem GmbH, is a long-standing partner of TOA Electronics Europe in Germany and specialises in electro-acoustic systems and voice alarm systems. www.ela-pro.com

About The AVard
The AVard is the ProAV Award in Germany and honours the best projects and products as well as companies and minds in the industry. The who's who of the ProAV industry comes together once a year for this industry event at the festive awards ceremony - this time once again in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg. More information about the AVard and the jury: www.the-avard.de

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