Case Studies

College site overhaul

by Mark Rowe

Bournemouth and Poole FE College has recently received £12m for upgrade of its campuses. The project included constructing new buildings to house a Digital Media Centre, a Performing Arts Centre and new science laboratories, and renovating buildings across both college sites. The campuses are used by a student population of over 10,000, so are busy throughout the academic year. The project also included adding new roof panels to generate solar electricity, supporting the local authority’s commitment to sustainability.

Secure Alarms Ltd, a local firm set up in 1979, installs and maintains the college’s security systems. Secure Alarms selected Redvision, the UK manufacturer of the X-Series PTZ dome cameras and Redcop rapid deployment systems, to supply all external PTZ cameras. Rob Cutler, Director at Secure Alarms, says: “We rate Redvision very highly. The technical support offered, as a manufacturer, is second to none. They have expertise on all their products and know what items best suit our requirements and those of the college. The cameras are extremely energy efficient, with a low cost of ownership, so meet the local authority’s green responsibilities.”

The newly-overhauled college site at Poole has 39 indoor cameras and 16 outdoor cameras, eight of which are Redvision PTZ’s. The Bournemouth site has 29 indoor and 25 outdoor cameras, five from Redvision. Most of the indoor cameras are IP and from the manufacturer Dahua. These were positioned to monitor corridors, hallways and other busy public areas in the college. Secure Alarms used analogue cameras outdoors, to use existing coaxial cabling, which were re-used to keep costs down and building alterations to a minimum. The outdoor Redvision cameras were the X-Series, RVX18, rugged PTZ dome cameras, with infra-red night-vision to 120m for 24/7 use. They were also mounted using customized, extended corner brackets, for best coverage from each camera location.

Rob Cutler adds: “We have always been impressed by Redvision’s excellent customer service. We realised that the standard connection leads were not long enough to reach the outdoor cameras in our customized brackets. Redvision solved this issue with longer leads, which they delivered within two working days, allowing us to get on with the installation efficiently and effectively. In addition, the company also helped us with pre-sales demonstrations and support when we were initially specifying the system.”

Revision offers a bespoke RAL colour service on all its cameras and Bournemouth and Poole College used this to effect. The college has a strong branding and colour scheme, in blue and grey, which is reflected across the buildings. Redvision matched the colours precisely, supplying both blue and grey rugged PTZs and brackets. The result is that the cameras blend into the aesthetics of each building, making them less obtrusive. The blue PTZ cameras (pictured) have been nick-named ‘Smurf-cam’ by college staff.

Dermot Grace, MD of Redvision, says: “Our bespoke, RAL colour service is very popular and has been used in a wide range of applications, from historical buildings and town centres, through to outdoor sports facilities like Tottenham Hotspur FC training academy. In this application, we have been able to support the branding and image of the newly refurbished college sites. Since both college sites are near the coast, each of the cameras also has a standard marine finish to resist corrosion and increase longevity.”

The CCTV is monitored from a college operations room at each campus and ‘Smurf cam’ is proving popular with operators, for site security and boundary management, as well as health and safety. They have already prevented a high-profile arson attack, securing a conviction, and helped to reduce bike theft and vandalism. They are regularly used in site management, preventing illegal car parking and maintaining clear road access for site safety purposes. Visit redvisioncctv.com.

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