Vertical Markets

South Bank control room

by Mark Rowe

Mark Rowe takes a tour of London South Bank University. Pictured is London South Bank University’s (LSBU) security team recently accredited under the Metropolitan Police’s Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS).

In the upgraded security control room at London South Bank University (LSBU), the security operations manager Ruben Van Schalkwyk called up on a monitor an entrance and asked me where it was. Havering? I replied. I was right – not because I know outer London boroughs, but because the name had cropped up during Colin Holland’s tour of LSBU with me. Havering is LSBU’s campus in Essex. Thanks to the new IP CCTV the control room near Elephant and Castle in south London can respond to callers at the entrance intercom.

Given that the main campus is in Southwark, between Waterloo and Elephant and Castle Tube stations, it’s very much in inner London. Hence it suffered like some other city centre universities from a crime survey by the Complete University Guide. The survey evidently bothered many unis, which does show how sensitive universities are of their image; a perception of crime may put off students. Colin Holland, Head of Security and Business Continuity at LSBU, described the Guide’s crime survey as ‘misleading’. He had a point; given that the Guide used stats from three miles around the campus, rather than a uni’s own figures, it’s hardly a surprise that unis in city centres scored higher for crime than campuses on the edge of county towns. It’s striking how, though it’s in the middle of London, LSBU has a secured perimeter, without feeling oppressive, thanks to ID card access through sliding gates. Colin Holland spoke also of ‘proactive patrolling’ by VSG, the contract guarding company, to push crime off campus, ‘and keeping it off’. Making it more complicated to set that perimeter is the mix in age, as in many UK unis and hospitals, of buildings. Modern glass buildings sit beside late Victorian polytechnic brick. It’s no good here, as at many other colleges, to lock down a site, because LSBU prides itself on being part of the community and taking students who might not otherwise see themselves as university material. That said, universities have changed in recent years; students are now customers, unis are businesses. Reception and security staff have taken Welcome to Excellence customers service training, something Colin Holland has brought with him from his previous post, over the Thames at City University London. Such training was originally set up for the tourist sector. Colin summed it up: “It’s about treating people who come on to the campus for the first time as valued customers, who leave with a good impression.”

LSBU security has done crime prevention work similar to other unis, around female safety, whether self-defence or watching your drinks aren’t spiked, and property crime. Colin stresses liaison with the local Met Police; a couple of years ago he was appointed an independent adviser to the local borough Critical Incident Risk Advisory Board (CIRAG). As the name suggests, such advisers will tell police what effect police ops have had on the locality; and report to the students.

If students should come to the upstairs security office, perhaps (as in other unis) seeking a new ID card, the ‘Security’ on the wall is in pink. Colin points out pink is one of the six corporate colours, picked by him to project a more warmer image. The security control room has eight monitors on the desk, and four larger flat screens on the wall. LSBU afforded the upgrade by the IP link to VSG’s main control room in Northampton. Rather than South Bank staff their control room through the night, control goes to Northampton, which can operate the room – opening entrance doors at Havering for instance – as if they are sitting at LSBU. That arrangement also allows for resilience. Most of the cameras, Colin added, are legacy, not HD or IP cameras; indeed the Havering camera until recently was black and white. Just as unis cannot stand still, nor can a security department; next stage for LSBU is to work with Perpetuity towards the Safer Environments accreditation, on the lines of the Park Mark scheme for car parks.

Background

London South Bank University (LSBU) is one of London’s largest and oldest universities. Since 1892 it has been providing students with vocationally-relevant education. With some 25,000 students, the LSBU estate covers 125 000 square metres with the main campus comprising 17 buildings. LSBU reviewed its security requirements and subsequently
appointed a new Head of Security, Colin Holland, in 2009. The first challenge; operational security; and this was tackled through tendering for a new security contractor for the estate. VSG Group in 2010 became the new manned guarding provider to LSBU. The second identified challenge; to address the shortfall in the physical security equipment and systems
deployed across the estate.

As in many places, the estate security systems and equipment had grown on an ad hoc basis over the years, presenting management with the
issues of incompatible legacy systems and an outdated control room. VSG proposed to take over the monitoring of the LSBU estate out of hours, by linking it to a virtual control room in VSG’s alarm receiving centre (ARC) in Northampton.

This proposal included the release of control room staffing cost over the term of the manned guarding contract against capital cost investment by VSG towards upgrading the estate security system and refurbishing the on-site control room.

Cornerstone GRG Ltd were appointed as a security consultant to draw up the scheme design, confirm the technical specifications with VSG Group and to then project manage the delivery to practical completion and final sign off on behalf of LSBU. Cornerstone and VSG designed a system around Honeywell’s Pro-Watch security management software suite which integrates the CCTV and alarm monitoring.

The full plan would allow the integration of analogue cameras and Honeywell Galaxy intruder alarm panels across an IP network. Honeywell hybrid Fusion H.264 network video recorders (NVRs) around the site and linked to LSBU’s IT infrastructure, have ended the problem of long cable runs. Honeywell high definition HD4 cameras are being installed as upgrades come in.

Using the Pro-Watch management software everything could be networked to an onsite control room and – central to the new security strategy – an offsite, central monitoring station (or ARC) managed by VSG. The Honeywell Galaxy panels have been upgraded to allow network communications via WebWayOne across the site and to the VSG ARC in
Northampton. This allows remote monitoring and paves the way for future upgrades. The onsite control room was modernised providing a more ergonomic workspace with modern low power monitors.

The remote ARC has freed up resources which have been redeployed on site. All fire and security alerts triggered by the Galaxy panels can be monitored by both the on and off site control rooms and both facilities provide a 24 hour emergency helpline service. During the night and at other selected times the monitoring is switched to the remote ARC, but the manned guarding team is on site and free to provide physical responses as required.

The resilience of the system has been improved by dedicated Fusion H.264 NVRs in relevant buildings, and because these are now networked to not only the main control room on site and the remote VSG ARC but also to a back up control facility on site. IP and the WebWayOne communications has increased options and flexibility.

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