<B>Linked system cuts crime</b>
Quadrant Video Systems has installed a CCTV system for the Portland Borough Council in Weymouth, comprising 23 Philips colour cameras fitted with Pentax 8-120mm zoom lenses linked to a bank of 18 JVC 21 inch colour monitors at the control room.
The town is populated by just 65,000 people but the resort can attract more than 100,000 visitors a day at the height of the tourist season. Dorset police and beach patrol staff register a multitude of incidents during the summer season including around 600 missing child alerts.
The colour cameras cover the seafront esplanade and town centre including the busy car parks. Council staff monitor the cameras from the Weymouth Port Complex control room. Dorset Police also have access links to the system by direct radio link, which they monitor from their Winfrith headquarters.
The CCTV system was integrated with a shop radio scheme at the resort. Weymouth’s community safety officer, Grant Armfield, who project managed the installation for the council, said the CCTV system had proved effective with the most up-to-date figures showing a drop in the overall crime rate of 14 per cent in the first six months of operation.
<B>In the frame</b>
ADT Fire and Security has installed 50 fixed cameras as part of a GB pound 60,000 contract to keep the car parks and shopping mall of St Enoch’s Centre free from crime. The contract was awarded by Glasgow City Council.
The cameras provide CCTV surveillance in the stairwells and main parking areas and are linked to the control room where images are displayed, controlled and digitally recorded.
<B>PA package</b>
Scottish Communication Systems has supplied and installed a security protection and public address system package to the new House of Bruar in St Andrews.
The retail outlet, which trades as Golf St Andrews, was opened following the success of the company’s flagship outlet at Bruar in Perthshire.
SCS supplied a high resolution colour, multiplex camera system linked to a high resolution video recording facility to protect the retail and storage areas. An intruder alarm system featuring the very latest, insurance-approved signalling system was also installed. And the PA system doubles up for playing music or making announcements.
<B>Riding high</b>
MEB Contracting, which has maintained and upgraded security systems at Alton Towers for the past seven years, has installed a new CCTV camera between Nemesis and the new GB pound 12 million rollercoaster ‘Air’. The camera will monitor its entry and exit points as well as surrounding areas.
MEB Contracting has also extended the system to cover the local town of Cheadle, with camera images within the town relayed back to the control room at the Staffordshire theme park. Brian Ward, director of security at Alton Towers estimates the town has been saved running costs of around GB pound 150,000 of manning a control centre.
<B>Class act</b>
Tremorfa Ltd, the Cardiff-based electrical services specialist has installed door operators from FAAC (UK) at the University of Glamorgan’s Pontypridd campus to meet the requirements of the revised Disability Discrimination Act.
A total of 22 FAAC 961 hinged door operators were installed at the entrances to the University’s buildings. Operation is controlled by sensors, which are left on when the university is open and switched off after hours. The doors can also be locked manually.
The FAAC 961 is simple to install and flexible in operation. The operators were specified for their reliabiltiy and high quality, and a member of the University’s Engineering Faculty commented on Tremorfa’s excellent metalwork.
The operators focus on security and safety with a stainless steel enclosure housing the FAAC 960 MP microprocessor control unit for operator management, enabling the speed and force applied to be programmed in line with the size and weight of the door.
With opening times adjustable between 3.5 and 10 seconds and closing times between six and 13 seconds, the doors can also adjust speed when activated to allow for obstructions.
<B>Port call for CCTV</b>
Secure Engineering Ltd has supplied and installed a CCTV system at SeaFrance’s Port of Dover site. The ferry company is using its existing computer network to transmit live CCTV images simultaneously to its Dover, Whitfield, Calais and Paris offices enabling authorised staff to observe and react to incidents from desk-top PCs.
After an initial trial using web cams to transmit images, systems were replaced with high-resolution cameras to improve image quality. Three colour cameras encased in stainless steel weatherproof housings have been installed to monitor activity at the tourism and freight check-in booths as well as the progress of ferries in and out of port.
<B>Cameras monitor night ride</b>
Checkpoint Meto has installed a range of infrared equipped Extreme Night Vision cameras to monitor security and safety at Dreamieland, Europe’s first shopping centre-based entertainment ride, which is located at Manchester’s Trafford Centre.
The night-vision CCTV technology was required to comply with health and safety requirements because the ride is set in complete darkness. Two colour, pan tilt and zoom dome cameras have also been installed at the Dreamieland retail shop, with static cameras to monitor the client queue and ride station.
<B>Buddying system</b>
Climarque Tag and Trace specified and installed an upgraded access control system at the Silverstone motor racing club to provide fast-tracked hospitality for the club’s 1,000 members and 3,500 guests.
The company selected Controlsoft’s KeyMaster Pro access control and asset security system for the installation because it was the only system that could provide a ‘buddying capability’ required by the client. This enabled guests to be admitted entrance to the clubhouse only after the inviting member had been granted access to the site earlier that same day.
Engineers programmed the KeyMaster Pro system to import a list of members and their guests from a standard Excel Spreadsheet to enable the ‘buddying’ facility. The system’s integrated asset tracking capability was another major consideration since the club wanted to use it to track its memorabilia.
<B>Security challenge</b>
The Cardiff branch of Security Centres has supplied and installed a total fire and security package involving an Apollo-based intelligent fire detection system at the Vale Hotel, Golf and Country Club in Glamorgan.
Set in part of the estate of the 17th Century Hensol Castle, the hotel and associated facilities include a variety of types of building use, from conference halls and sports centres to medical clinics as well as hotel accomodation.
Security Centres designed and developed the fire and security package in close consultation with the local fire officer and building control officer. Nevertheless, the differences in building use and variations in the number of people who might be in and around the complex at any one time presented Security Centres with a challenge.
The main hotel has been equipped with a building management system, fully integrated CCTV, a call system for the disabled and an integrated intruder alarm system. To fulfil modern fire detection requirements, Security Centres equipped the Vale complex with a networked fire alarm system that provides comprehensive fire protection to each building around the site and links back to a Morley-IAS control panel situated in the main hotel.
Approximately 780 Apollo XP95 detectors are included in the system, together with ancillary devices that interface with critical equipment. Particular attention was paid to a phased evacuation procedure to ensure the safety of 200 staff.
<B>CCTV service expanded</b>
Guildford-based Photon (TG) Ltd has installed CCTV equipment from Conway Security Products as part of a major expansion of the CCTV service in Merton, South London. The Borough of Merton CCTV system included cameras in six car parks and two residential estates, a new multi-mode fibre in one town centre and an extension of the control room.
The installation uses a combination of housings from Conway’s EH range featuring a self-parking wiper and a heater/demister, and the vandal resistant IHC4 ceiling mounted housing, which has a polycarbonate screen and internal cable termination. An adjustable mounting cradle allows the camera to be mounted at 90 degrees allowing it to view events along alleyways or where a ceiling mount is not possible.
The installation includes JVC TK 1480 cameras and Pentax high speed lenses as well as a Tecton Drax multiplexer and Mitsubishi VCRs.
Merton Council has also included a police radio in the Council’s control room so that operators can monitor communictions with police officers.
<B>Turnkey project for prison</b>
Dowding & Mills has completed a turnkey security systems project for the Scottish Prison Service at Shotts Prison, replacing two old and unreliable inner compound gates that provided the only access in and out of the prison.
Having carried out a survey prior to designing and manufacturing two bespoke gates together with the associated running gear, the gates were installed over two consecutive weekends in order to minimise disruption.
Steven Starritt, maintenance manager at Shotts Prison, said the company had been chosen partly because of the support from its local branch in Falkirk, which ensured a speedy response in meeting the requirements of the contract.
