BURY-based Pennine Telecom has played a vital role in the revamp of the fire and rescue control room at British Nuclear Group's Sellafield site.

Thanks to the work of the Salford Street company, it means that in addition to radio and telephone communication, staff can control doors, Tannoy, CCTV and even the site fire alarm and perimeter monitoring from one screen.

Main contractors Pennine Telecom managed the complete refurbishment, right down to deciding the decor of the room. The company's engineers are well used to designing complicated radio and telephony installations but this project took their planning skills to new heights. The contract had to be completed within three months and there had to be not a minute of down time in the 24/7 operation of the fire and rescue service at the nuclear plant. Pennine's account manager Shaun Cummins and project manager, Anil Taylor, planned and implemented a meticulous campaign.

"All this had to be done under Sellafield's extremely stringent regulations and we had to escort sub-contractors on site," said Shaun.

Mike Wollaghan, a site shift manager at Sellafield, praised the Pennine Telecom team. "Under difficult conditions they worked at a tremendous rate when installing and trouble shooting the new installation. "