Bredon Hill Academy

Summary/background

Bredon Hill Academy is a well-regarded, 468-pupil middle school situated in the village of Ashton-under-Hill, four miles south of Evesham in Worcestershire.

The school’s alarm system was installed in 1993. It had become increasingly hard to service and correct any recurring faults, given that replacement parts were no longer available due to their age. Also, with BT moving their telephony to full digitalisation in 2025, the existing analogue equipment was rapidly becoming incompatible and out of date.

Against this background, Justice Fire & Security were engaged to install a new, state-of-the-art intruder alarm system across the site’s three core premises - the main four-story school building dating back to the 1960s, as well as a maths block and a design and technology facility.

Challenges the client faced

Added to its existing frailty, the old alarm system required all the buildings to be alarmed as one – so that anyone entering one part of the building had to deactivate the entire site. There was no degree of security separation across the individual buildings, which had become increasingly impractical and, at times, difficult to control and monitor.

The equipment we installed – and what happened next

Following a thorough assessment and site survey, it became clear that given the age of the original installation, all the existing detection equipment and wiring needed to be removed, along with the original detectors and controllers. Justice was given an eight-day window during the Easter school holiday period to carry out the installation.

In its place, a modern HKC hybrid alarm system was installed (part wired, part wireless), and the three buildings requiring protection were alarmed independently of each other.

Fobs have been provided to teaching staff as well as external suppliers, such as cleaners. When anyone deactivates or reactivates the system, this can be monitored remotely by the Academy management via a smartphone/tablet app – which also enables Justice to undertake any remote servicing and diagnostics, when necessary.

All ongoing service and maintenance by Justice are included in this project.

The final outcome

Bredon Hill Academy’s IT Manager, Dan Rimell, said the installation had gone like clockwork and that the Justice team had been a pleasure to work with.

“The old system had had its day and served us well, but this new system takes us into the 21st century. We are now light years ahead,” he said.

“We can provide staff with fobs that get them into specific blocks. Once the staff member has locked and alarmed the building, we receive a phone message to say the building has been re-alarmed. Or the buildings can be locked and unlocked simultaneously, depending on the role of the user.

“There is also a better vision of the alarm when external suppliers are accessing the building. They have a fob, which they can scan, and we can see on a mobile who has logged in and out. If there is any issue, we can now lock or unlock each building remotely.

“Kevin Watkins came in and did a really thorough survey of the site. It wasn’t just a cursory look around. Every corridor and access point was given due consideration.

“The Justice engineers were on site promptly each day and were very tidy, making sure they cleaned up at the end of each shift - unlike many contractors who don’t clean up and don’t appear when they say they will.

“Justice trained and showed us how everything worked. They made sure we were completely comfortable with the new system. They were fantastic,” added Dan.