In Scotland, the installer SPIE has been working with TCA Ltd (Town Centre Activities, based in Coatbridge) who carry out community safety work on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council. Research by TCA Ltd in December showed a higher proportion of people in North Lanarkshire believe there are the right amount or too few cameras (86 pc) compared to the rest of the UK (76 pc).
SPIE worked with its supply chain partners to design and install new public space CCTV infrastructure in the area. The council has been able to expand the physical coverage of its CCTV infrastructure and see a reduction in the central Scottish council’s annual operational costs. To date, 27 residential towers have been added to the existing network including vandal proof cameras and two-way audio alarms. This has capacity for expansion.
In one of these towers a student was recently stuck in a lift on her way to an exam. Because of the system, she was able to contact the monitoring team and make safe exit from the lift. The monitoring team contacted the exam board, enabling the student to receive extra time on the exam – which she is known to have passed.
A redundancy feature makes down time almost non-existent. This consists of five hubs, each retaining the capacity to run network traffic for each of the other hubs. SPIE is therefore able to undertake system maintenance without losing a camera’s feed; a USP the installer says compared to many other public space CCTV systems that suffer downtime for maintenance, upgrades and loss of network.
John Stewart, the Divisional Director for SPIE, says: “This has been a significant initiative which we hope will set the standard for other councils in the UK. It is providing the area with enhanced levels of public security while offering a 100pc return on investment in as little as three years. This obviously represents excellent value for money for the council and local tax payers.
“The installation of the new system was seamless, in fact, when we switched over from the leased line to the new system, no-one noticed! It was so smooth, there was no loss of service at all and many of the CCTV images improved with the enhanced network capacity. We are proud to continue working closely with TCA Ltd to maintain the council’s public space CCTV infrastructure and do this knowing the very real and important benefits our team have bought residents in the area.”
About the installer
The installer of Fire Safety, Life Safety and Electronic Security was established in 1989. In 2014 Scotshield became part of the SPIE Group of Companies, which offer electrical, mechanical and HVAC engineering services. It has regional offices around the UK. Visit http://www.spieuk.com/en/multi-tech-services/spie-scotshield/.
