Northampton Hospital is a major 600 bed hospital that covers a large area with a multitude of buildings centred around a central main hospital building. The challenge was for the hospital to replace their existing fire alarm system which had served them well for almost 20 years with a new system able to serve and take the hospital through the next 20 years... this was to be done in a way that ensured the system remained live and operational throughout the upgrade project and to a timescale that suited the operational requirements of the hospital as well as the financial and budgetary requirements. A new site-wide communications network was installed and enabled the installation of the new 26 distributed control systems throughout the site.... To be continued...