Choice Fire has completed a 13-month project to upgrade the fire systems at Dolphin Square, the multi-storey, prestige short- and long-term residential let development in central London.
Choice’s preferred third-party monitoring services partner, Yeoman Monitoring Services, has commenced rebranding its identity and logo to align within its Europe-wide parent business, Scutum Group, under the name Scutum Digital. This transition in no way alters service provision by the Monitoring Centre/ARC (Alarm Receiving Centre) facility or Choice customers’ communications regarding security and fire system monitoring services – all contact numbers, logons, passwords etc are unaffected.
With external influences in the UK’s economic and political environment causing some nervousness and after a cautious trading period at the start to the year, Choice saw much-improved results in new orders and revenues to finish 2018 strongly.
Recurring and reactive maintenance revenues remained stable and we are pleased to report an upturn in capital revenues – primarily system installation activity – across most sectors. Staff turnover rates remain low and retention of experienced staff remains excellent. To continue to support growth, Choice further increased its staff numbers by 20% during 2018. A healthy order book gives us great optimism for continued success in 2019.
Installation activities throughout this year included:
Choice has boosted its credentials as a preferred supplier to the financial sector by gaining registered status within the Financial Services Qualification System (FSQS) Stage 2 as part of its compliance requirement for customer Santander. FSQS is designed to standardise and manage requests for compliance and assurance data in a one-for-all submission process which serves the major financial services organisations that have adopted the system.
Hellios Information Management Ltd operates the FSQS system on behalf of organisations including: Santander, Lloyds Banking Group, Shawbrook Bank, TSB Bank, Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank, Nationwide, the Bank of England, Bank of Ireland, LV= and Metro Bank.
As a common register of standardised, validated, structured and comprehensive vendor and third-party information, FSQS provides a safe and efficient way to manage compliance and assurance data. Attaining the certification required Choice to undertake a two-stage process focused on its compliance and policy requirements in areas such as: finances, insurance and third-party certifications, health and safety, environmental and sustainability, IT security, GDPR, anti-bribery, operational risks, fraud and responsible business governance.
Commenting on this achievement, Choice director Barry Critchell said: “Our newly registered status within the Hellios FSQS database is a valuable indicator to the financial sector – where we have specialist technical expertise in security and fire systems – that we are also capable of demonstrating the highest levels of business and administrative credibility.”
Choice has completed the first, and major, phase of a project to refurbish and extend the CCTV facilities at Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire. The Grade 1 listed 10th century Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin is a prime example of Norman architecture.
As such, Choice has provided a full set of replacement cameras and new cameras with associated cabling extensions, plus digital video recording (DVR) , while respecting the CCTV system’s historic operating environment.
Choice’s Hikvision ‘turbo’ HD solution was selected from three potential suppliers following a tender process and completion of an on-site presentation, including a live CCTV demonstration.
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Choice has installed multi-discipline security technology at London’s prestigious, Grade II-listed Victoria Palace Theatre, which reopened in December 2017 to premier in the UK the record-breaking American hip-hop musical Hamilton, having been closed since April 2016 for a major £50m refurbishment.
By winning a tender to support the theatre project’s main electrical contractor LondonGuild Ltd, Choice has been responsible for cctv, access control (including a stage door intercom) and intruder alarm system installations…
