Solotech Ensuring Safety at CERN

Something a little different for our installation teams recently as Solotech, in partnership with Curload Consultants, started work 80m below ground at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the Swiss/French border.

As long-term partners to CERN, Solotech has been tasked with providing a comprehensive design study to deliver Voice Alarm cover for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).  The initial focus has been to test out loudspeaker types, models and spacings along the 27km LHC main tunnel. Project Manager, Ben Green, can be seen putting his back into two road cases of speakers, tools and testing equipment.

Included in the survey is the 10+ storey escape stairs and a range of noisy service areas.  The CERN site is extremely complex and spread out over a wide area, with a room count over 1400, over 8 main access sites, and 4 very large experiment halls.

Solotech Business Development Manager, Paul Malpas, is leading the electroacoustic design services, bringing 30 years experience of developing strategies for critical speech amplification in extreme acoustic environments.  The Solotech models have been developed in the latest EASE 5, using AURA 4 as an essential tool for acoustic propagation in tunnels.

Sarah Radcliffe, Director of Curload Consultants, first brought the opportunity to Solotech and was pivotal in securing the framework appointment.  Sarah is very much ‘hands on’ with the process and is pictured preparing and setting out the speaker candidates for experiments and demonstrations to safety strategists at CERN.