Current’s ultimate high wire act

May 10 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

A SUNDERLAND firm is on top of the world after securing a contract in the tallest building on the planet.

Fire safety telephones, built at Current Thinking in Sunderland, have travelled thousands of miles from Wearside to be installed in the world’s tallest building – the 2,200ft-high Burj Dubai Tower.

But it’s not the first time the company, based in the Business Innovation Centre, has made a splash in the Emirates state.

Current Thinking fire telephones are also used in more than 50 other towers in Dubai and the undersea Jumeria Road Tunnel linking the mainland to the huge Palm development, which includes the world’s three largest artificial islands.

Managing director Anthony Smith said: “We have developed a broad range of products which have established Current Thinking as leaders in the field, both in the UK and abroad.

“We do feel proud that a company from Sunderland is so successful.

“We’ve been involved in these products since 1988, working with other companies, and decided to set up on our own to promote new technologies.” The company, which employs 19 people at its Enterprise Park factory, specialises in advanced fire telephone, voice alarm and induction loops for aiding people with hearing problems.

Its systems, which assist hearing-aid users listening to information in noisy environments, are used at stations on the East and West Coast Main Lines as well as the new St Pancras International terminal for the Channel Tunnel.

The firm has also proved a hit with tennis bosses and it will supply a 190-point combined fire and disabled refuge telephone system for the redeveloped Wimbledon complex.

The tower, opening later this year, will have 160 floors. Its 40mph lifts will be the fastest in the world.

Floors 17-108 will have 800 private apartments. Most of the higher floors will be offices and private suites.

The tip of the spire will be visible 60 miles away.

Rods that reinforce the structure if laid end to end, would stretch more than a quarter of the way around the world.