Upgrades and additions to the voice alarm you already have
It sounds like the system has to change: a refit, a new zone, a controller nobody supports any more. And you'd rather add to what you have than start again.
ProAudium adds to and upgrades voice alarm and emergency sound systems that already exist: an extra zone, loudspeakers for a refit, a controller or monitoring upgrade, batteries sized on the test results rather than the last quote. It does not bid in open tenders for major new-build installations. A new system for a client whose existing systems it already maintains is in scope; for anyone else, the right call for a new system is an installer, and this page will save you a conversation.
What counts as an addition, and what counts as a new installation?
An addition changes part of a system whose rest stays in service: a new zone for a reconfigured floor, loudspeakers where a wall has moved, an emergency microphone where the fire and rescue service has asked for one, end-of-line devices on circuits that were never supervised, a controller upgrade where the manufacturer has stopped support. A new installation is a system where none exists, or a replacement of the whole. The first is this page. The second is quoted only for clients whose systems ProAudium already maintains.
Enhancements to systems we know, because we maintain them. Technology refresh, zone amendments, controller upgrades, compliance improvements. Because we are not installation contractors, there is no conflict of interest: we recommend what the system needs, not what generates the largest project.
Whether a building needs a voice alarm rather than sounders in the first place is a fire strategy question, settled by the fire risk assessment and the building's fire strategy, not by a maintainer. Where the answer is yes and the system already exists, the useful question becomes whether it still matches the building, which is what the maintenance record answers.
How is a change to a voice alarm recorded?
Every change to a voice alarm is a repair or a modification, and BS 5839-8 treats them differently. Like-for-like replacement is a repair (BS 5839-8:2023, Clause 41.2). Adding loudspeakers or amplifiers, changing zones or altering cause and effect is a modification: the organisation making it tests the change, updates the as-fitted drawings and issues a modification certificate (Clause 41.3), which Note 3 to that clause says is generally necessary once more than 5 % of loudspeakers are added or removed, the number of emergency loudspeaker zones changes, or the agreed cause and effect changes. An addition without that paperwork leaves the building with drawings that no longer describe the system, which is what the next auditor, or the next maintainer, will find first.
Every ProAudium addition ends with the circuit measured, the reading entered against the circuit in the maintenance record, and the certificate and updated drawings handed to premises management. On a maintained system, the next service visit then compares against that reading, so the addition becomes part of the trend rather than a gap in it.
Can compliance be reached over more than one budget year?
Not every system can reach full life-safety certification in a single budget year, and it does not need to. We build structured compliance roadmaps that move your system progressively towards BS 5839-8 or BS EN 50849 certification, year by year, within your budget cycle. Each phase is designed so the work already completed remains valid and every pound spent counts towards the end goal.
The order is set by the maintenance findings, not by what is easiest to sell. Faults that could stop the system working come first; items the standard recommends but the system lacks come next, with the deviation documented and owned in the meantime; enhancements come last. Each phase is quoted separately from the visits that found the need for it, so the roadmap can be checked line by line against the report.
Where the trigger is Martyn's Law, the first question is whether the existing system can carry the communication procedure with configuration and message changes rather than new equipment; the communication assessment is the place to establish that before anything is bought.
What is not on offer, and who to call instead
No open tenders for major new-build installations, no fire detection. For a new system in a building ProAudium does not already look after, an installer or integrator should design, install and commission it; fire and security integrators can then bring ProAudium in for the voice alarm part under their own name, and the page for integrators explains how that works. Once the system exists, this page applies.
Reviewed on 1 October 2026 by Nigel Williams.