Case Studies

London residential estate video

by Mark Rowe

After an upgrade of video surveillance at a south London residential estate proved its use against tipping, the system was immediately scaled-up. An installation by Hall & Kay Security Engineering was at the Meridian South Development in Hither Green; a mixed development, of 440 owner-occupied and rented properties. Site managers sought to tackle a growing problem of reported petty crime and anti-social behaviour. Rubbish was being dumped by short-term tenants vacating their apartments; there was theft from mailboxes, vandalism, and car crime. Rubbish removal alone was costing the management company more than £12,000 a year.

London-based Hall & Kay began by replacing ten column-mounted PTZ cameras with IDIS cameras. IDIS technicians visited the site with the H&K engineers and did a bandwidth test on the cabling on-site – showing that, by using the coax with IDIS ethernet converters, up to four IDIS fixed bullet cameras could be mounted on each column. Wireless access points were installed where cameras couldn’t be cabled directly to the estate control room. This approach cut out blind-spots to make sure that events would not be missed when the system was unmanned. To provide wider coverage, a further six columns were added, and extra IDIS cameras were mounted in the underground car parking areas.

The system now delivers high definition (HD) images in all lighting, with infra-red (IR) offering night-time image capture at distances up to 30m. All footage is stored for 30 days. The security officers and maintenance staff who manage the estate are also using the analytics that come with the IDIS Center video management software (VMS). These tools include motion detection which can be used out of hours to ensure that scenes are only recorded when movement occurs, thus minimising bandwidth usage and storage requirements. This feature, with IDIS MapVue navigation, also allows users to review footage to find incidents of interest.

The 57 IDIS full HD IR cameras, and the three network recorders (NVRs) with 12TB storage each, offer what the manufacturer terms true plug-and-play set up through DirectIP. When the South Meridian management saw the quality of images now being captured, they asked if the system could be extended.

Within 24 hours of cameras being installed, departing tenants were recorded illegally dumping rubbish. Shortly after, a contractor working at the site reported that tools had been stolen – in both cases, high definition evidence of the crime was passed to the police. In fact, thanks to the design of the system, and the VMS controls, security staff were able to retrieve footage of the incident, with a video trail of the thief moving across the estate before and after. Word has now spread about the new system, and residents are delighted that there are now no blind-spots.

Wayne Wharton, Security Sales Manager, H&K Security says: “The support we had from IDIS was second to none and the technology works exactly as promised. We are now looking at many more IDIS projects with the same customer and others.”

And James Min, Managing Director, IDIS Europe says: “We are delighted that IDIS technology is making such a positive difference to the quality of life of residents at Meridian South.”

Related News

Newsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to stay on top of security news and events.

© 2024 Professional Security Magazine. All rights reserved.

Website by MSEC Marketing