With an annual turnover of £15 million and a target development programme to develop on average each year at least 140 properties, Cottsway Housing is the largest registered provider of social housing in West Oxfordshire. It is currently utilising hundreds of 'Hush Buttons' at its sheltered housing schemes. C-TEC's 'Hush Buttons' provide residents with the means to silence false alarms themselves should they set the fire alarm off accidentally, thus preventing unnecessary building evacuations, expensive fire service call outs or a true fire alarm signal being ignored.

Colin Walker, Fire Safety Officer at Cottsway, said: “We installed the Hush Buttons as part of the fire alarm upgrades within our sheltered blocks of flats which do not have wardens or staff on-site 24 hours a day. At some flats there was real complacency that if the fire alarm sounded it was because someone had burnt the toast. C-TEC’s Hush Buttons haveeradicated false alarms and restored confidence in the fire alarm system.” Designed to work with the 'Apollo XP95' or 'Hochiki ESP' analogue addressable fire alarm systems, the 'Hush Buttons' meet the requirements of BS 5839 part 6 (the code of practice for fire alarm systems in dwellings). [www.c-tec.co.uk]