Also serving as the Northern Ireland headquarters for G4S’ guarding, event security, mobile patrol and electronic security businesses overseen by Barry Byrne (managing director of G4S Northern Ireland), the ISO 9002-graded Centre plays host to a Category 2 Gold Standard National Security Inspectorate (NSI)-accredited Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) which replaces the original Monitoring Station run by the company at Ormeau Road. It is the only such Category 2 ARC with full and parallel accreditation for the UK operated by the G4S organisation.
The new Monitoring Centre sits on Airport Road West and was built by contractor Faithful and Gould under the watchful eye of Vanessa Young, G4S’ programme manager for the project. G4S took up residency in May once the facilities were in place such that a wide range of alarm signals – from Redcare through to Dual Path or IP – could be received. The switch-over of service from Ormeau Road was completed in just one hour and no downtime was experienced. Monitored intruder, fire, personal attack and lone worker alarms are now all part of the mix.
50,000 connections and rising
Up to 50,000 alarms are being monitored on behalf of a customer base that straddles both the commercial and domestic sectors. There are 15 dedicated alarm handling operators – G4S prefers to call them ‘customer services professionals’ – serving the client base, in addition to four team leaders, a Customer Support Team and a Technical Services Support Team.
Shift patterns for the customer services professionals are based on a 16-day schedule, with the plan of working being four days on, four nights on, four days off and then four on standby.
The CCTV monitoring service for clients can be extended to provide ‘virtual patrols’ across sites. The dedicated and trained customer services professionals can, at designated times, monitor the camera views across given sites, raising alerts and dispatching response officers as necessary should any necessary exceptions occur.
On the main wall of the ARC there are six large video screens, the two furthest to the right focused on rendering images from CCTV cameras. Each individual operator station features three flat screens. The idea is that all independent systems feed into the same alarm management queue. If an intruder alarm is activated, for example, the statistical report will be seen on one screen while the footage from site is displayed on another. Images may be extracted and e-mailed to the police service within a matter of minutes should this be necessary.
There’s spare capacity at the Centre – ultimately the responsibility of Richard Fenton-Jones, who recently joined G4S from OCS Security to become managing director of monitoring and response – and, over the next two years, G4S is adamant it will be able to accommodate over 500,000 connections.
Pan-European alarm management
That’s just as well, because many customers are now beginning to ask for alarms to be managed not only in the UK but also across Europe. Clients want to use G4S to co-ordinate their entire alarm management. As such, the company now has systems in place that will, for example, translate instructions from English into, say, Greek and then back again, which makes for smoother alarm management across national boundaries.
A 250 kVA generator powers the facility, with dual UPS systems housed in a room to the right of the main ARC space.
G4S also operates a vehicle tracking service from the new Monitoring Centre. At the heart of this is the Intellimapper GPRS system developed by Varitrac Design in South Africa. The system isn’t available on the open market.
The physical presence
The ARC is located on the top floor of the architecturally pleasing two-storey building within its own concrete, blast-proof shell, sitting cheek-by-jowl with several management meeting rooms and R&D facilities for progressing the security guarding service.
Due to the location of the building and environmental factors, perimeter fencing wasn’t an option for the building. As such, ‘raised earth’ areas have been incorporated along with equidistant boulders and rising bollards at the main entrance. The staff and visitors’ car parking area lines the perimeter area for additional security. There’s also a dual, zonal perimeter protection system that’s invisible as it comprises cables and sensors buried beneath ground level.
Externally, the building is also protected by an array of dome and PTZ cameras courtesy of Bosch Security Systems. Images are reproduced on Dowshu DVRs. Internally, the access control system is the Multimax – the same one that’s used in The Pentagon, no less. Galaxy intruder alarms are also in operation.
Officially opening the new Monitoring Centre, David Taylor-Smith (CEO of Security Services in the UK and Ireland) told the assembled guests – including Dennis Gotts from Land Securities Trillium and Tony Weeks of the NSI – “This is a very special day for everyone concerned. Many congratulations to the team that has helped this Centre come to fruition. We have over 1,000 staff working in Northern Ireland, and this new Monitoring Centre will greatly assist their efforts on behalf of our customer base.”
Monitoring and Response
G4S boasts a wealth of experience in providing alternative security solutions for those situations which may have previously required dedicated security guarding. “There are three elements to our mobile security service – mobile patrol, lock and unlock and key holder and response,” said Richard Fenton-Jones.
“In terms of mobile patrols, security officers will visit premises outside of normal hours and carry out inspections in line with the customers’ instructions. While checking exterior perimeters, officers will observe all ground floor doors and windows to ensure that no suspicious activity is apparent. They’re also fully-trained to identify Health and Safety risks. Internal foot patrols are common in premises such as factories or warehouses.”
Today’s flexible working conditions may mean that employees don’t want the responsibility of securing or opening their premises. The lock-unlock service – mainly requested by the managers of car parks, offices and factories – takes ownership of such duties at the beginning and end of each day. As part of lock-down procedures, officers can ensure that all lights, computer monitors and taps, etc are turned off at the end of each working day.
“When it comes to key holder and response services, we look to respond either as the named key holder or the escort,” continued Fenton-Jones. “As the key holder, our officer will act as the filter, assess the situation and deal with any immediate issues. Customers may choose not to be disturbed unless there has been a serious incident which could affect the function of the business the following day.”
Fenton-Jones concluded: “In responding to an intruder alarm as an escort, our officer will meet the customer’s nominated key holder outside the premises and ensure their safety at all times. This is particularly important in the wake of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act passing into law.”
