Dandenong Market EWIS Upgrade
Completed Project — Practical Completion November 2025
Client: City of Greater Dandenong | Site: Dandenong Market — 200+ traders, 5M+ visitors a year
Scope: New EWIS panel, two fire indicator panels, and a PA announcement system with 200+ speakers and horns throughout the site
Conditions: Live market — work restricted to the three non-trading days each week; carparks, roof cavities and works at height
Completed: Practical Completion, November 2025
Outcome: Zero disruption to the market’s four weekly trading days · no significant disputes or variations · official council endorsement
The Challenge
Dandenong Market is one of Melbourne’s oldest and largest markets — more than 200 traders and over five million visitors a year. At a venue like that, the emergency warning system isn’t a back-of-house detail: in an incident, evacuating thousands of people safely depends entirely on clear, audible messaging reaching every corner of the site at once.
In 2025, the City of Greater Dandenong engaged CED Fire Protection to deliver a new, fully compliant emergency warning and evacuation system across the entire market.
Three things made it demanding:
A three-day working week. The market trades four days a week and closes for three — and those three closed days were the only window in which work could happen. A full year of major life-safety works had to be delivered entirely within that recurring window, without ever spilling into a trading day.
A complex site. Works spanned carparking areas, roof cavities and extensive activity at height — much of it above and around a busy public space.
Coverage that had to reach everyone. In a large, open, noisy market, a warning is only as good as its coverage. Every zone — trading floors, carparks, back-of-house — had to receive clear evacuation messaging.
Working at height inside a live, trading market — access restricted to the three closed days each week.
What We Delivered
CED Fire Protection installed a complete new emergency warning and evacuation system across the whole market:
- A new EWIS panel (Emergency Warning and Intercommunication System)
- Two fire indicator panels (FIPs)
- A PA announcement system
- 200+ speakers and horns throughout the site — so that in an emergency, the market’s five million-plus annual visitors can be directed to safety, everywhere at once
Our team worked through the carparks, into roof cavities and at height. Installation, commissioning, testing and staff training were all completed through 2025, with Practical Completion achieved in November 2025.
Running EWIS cabling above the market — part of the new panel, speaker and horn installation.
A Year Of Works, Three Days A Week, Zero Disruption
The result we’re proudest of is what didn’t happen. Across a full year of major life-safety works, not one of the market’s four weekly trading days was lost — because every phase was carried out only on the three days the market was closed.
Delivering a project of this scale inside a recurring three-day window took more than technical skill. It took constant, clear communication with everyone whose week the work touched:
- the City of Greater Dandenong, as client
- the market management team, coordinating access and safety
- and the 200+ tenants, who needed to know what was happening, where, and when
Because everyone was kept informed, the works progressed steadily without a single trading day being affected — the market opened as normal, every week, throughout the project.
Watch: Dandenong Market EWIS Upgrade
The Endorsement
In its official Letter of Endorsement, the City of Greater Dandenong praised CED’s professionalism and open communication throughout the project. The council confirmed the work was completed with no significant disputes or variations — and stated it would engage CED again for similar projects in the future.
Why It Matters
Anyone responsible for a fire and evacuation upgrade on a busy, high-occupancy site is weighing the same three questions: Will it be compliant and cover the whole site? Will it disrupt operations? Will it blow out in cost and disputes?
Dandenong Market answers all three — a complete, compliant warning and evacuation system with site-wide speaker and horn coverage, delivered entirely within the market’s closed days, with no significant variations, endorsed by the client.
Planning An EWIS, Evacuation Or Detection Upgrade On A Live, Occupied Site?
Talk to us about how we’d stage it around your operations — without closing your doors.