Event perimeter security

“We’ve combined our expertise in street furniture and hostile vehicle mitigation”: Townscape Q&A

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Adam Bannister is a contributor to IFSEC Global, having been in the role of Editor from 2014 through to November 2019. Adam also had stints as a journalist at cybersecurity publication, The Daily Swig, and as Managing Editor at Dynamis Online Media Group.
January 9, 2018

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Demand for perimeter security for events and crowded places has exploded since terrorists began weaponising vehicles around Europe.

Practicalities require that such measures are temporary and deployable, prompting HVM specialists to ramp up R&D for products that are temporary, lightweight and easy to install and remove.

IFSEC Global spoke to Jonathan Goss, managing director of one such company, Townscape Products, about the market’s evolution and Townscape’s place within it.

IFSEC Global: Can you give us a quick rundown of the brand and where you sit in the market?

Jonathan Goss: Our heritage is as a street furniture company. We’ve been in business for more than 40 years now. During that time we’ve seen an awful lot of changes in the marketplace.

We developed a vehicle defence system early on in our history and over the years we’ve combined our expertise in hostile vehicle mitigation with our street furniture capabilities. That means our products are in keeping with the building fabric or zone we’re trying to protect.

“We’ve protected major airports – Manchester, Gatwick, Heathrow – the Tower of London, power stations, nuclear power plants”

We’ve done some fairly iconic projects: most of the major airports – Manchester, Gatwick, Heathrow – high profile London buildings like Fenchurch Street, the Walkie Talkie, Tower of London; and the Belfast Titanic Centre; and most recently, the British Airways i360 in Brighton.

Also power stations, nuclear power plants…

However, the threat of terrorism is changing. The government does now define the threat from a vehicle as a weapon, and we’ve seen various instances across Europe and in the UK where vehicles are used to inflict harm on people and property.

The market is changing, and the UK is probably the world leader. We have BSI standards like PAS 68 and IWA14. Because we manufacture to those standards, we also get fairly major projects in the Middle East, and more recently in Australia.

The Australia and UK security services talk to each other and that’s why we get some specifications.

CT Block Planter outside Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth

 

IG: What kind of protective barriers are we seeing on the market?

JG: The market really falls into two categories. There’s permanently installed HVM or hostile vehicle mitigation and there are two types: passive and static, so fixed bollards, blocks, barriers, or active – barriers, swing arm barriers, wedge barriers.

Each has its own uses and weaknesses.

Active HVM can be controlled if they are taken over by force.

Passive systems are used if you have a big perimeter, like an airport, or even Fenchurch Street. You can’t intimidate a block or a bollard.

You are protecting your facility both in terms of ram raids attack and in providing blast standoff, so a vehicle packed with explosives can’t get close enough to a building to create much destruction.

The other classification is quite topical: deployable perimeter security for Christmas fairs, fetes, pop-up exhibitions. We’ve developed a range of products to address this market.

People typically require a product to be deployed for a set period of time. The minute the show is over they want the product removed.

People can hire the product or buy it, Townscape and its partners hold enough stock to accommodate requests at short notice.

If you have a Christmas market you also want people funnelling through the barriers. They also want – and this is something I think is fairly unique to Townscape in that part of the market – to let in authorised vehicles.

“You often see products which are basically Hadrian’s Wall – nothing gets through them. That’s not good if you need pedestrian ingress”

You often see products marketed which are basically Hadrian’s Wall. Nothing can get through them. That’s not good if you need pedestrian ingress.

We have gates for authorised vehicles, pedestrian crossings for pedestrians, and it’s totally deployable. It can be put up and assembled within a matter of hours and taken away in the same time.

Permanently installed systems are very mature in the marketplace. Event perimeter security is a more recent development because of the threats and attacks we’ve had recently.

Our unique feature is being able to have authorised vehicle and pedestrian access.

Clients in this sector have a duty of care to the people who attend events.

20 Fenchurch St, London

 

IG: Perhaps events can also attract more people if they can see that it’s protected…

JG: There are two schools of thought – and we are client led in this: some people want it big, brash, in your face and high profile. There’s a visual deterrent.

I think government policy now is more along the lines of being very up front and open that you’re protecting your facilities, rather than being surreptitious.

Most people now, in the UK certainly, accept and feel reassured if there’s some physical barrier or restraint in place.

IG: Do you typically have to collaborate with other providers?

JG: You can’t as an individual company make every single product for a project, so in some cases we partner with someone who is providing a particular type of barrier. That’s why we have good relationships through our membership of the PSSA [a trade association for the sector].

IG: There must be a lot of cash pouring into R&D given the dramatic shift in the threat landscape…

JG: Yes, because you have to get the product into a city centre, which on occasion can have restricted access. It’s no good having the biggest possible block you possibly can.

Our products come in modules that you can put together in all sorts of configurations, to create different perimeters with numerous access points, but keeping unauthorised vehicles out.

Our CT Sentry Blocks are black and yellow, and some customers take it as that. But others want it to blend in more, so we provide a range of colours and branding.

“With permanent HVM we’ve cast blocks in a very special colour to match the York Minster building”

With permanent HVM we’ve cast blocks in a very special colour to match the York Minster building. Thanks to our street furniture heritage we’re able to do that. We’ve been able to blend different sands to get the right colour.

On the deployable CT Sentry Blocks there are brackets on the top, to enable lighting or CCTV cameras to be mounted. We can also help them marshal their perimeter line.

Whilst the permanent HVM CT Blocks, which have been established for many years now, are well known for their unique very low-profile foundation; the deployable CT Sentry Blocks are totally surface-mounted and linked together with chains.

In city centres the first thing people worry about is digging up the pavement. With our product you can provide a permanent HVM line that only recesses 100mm. If we’re taking up paving you’ve almost got your 100mm in place, so you’re not going to hit any services.

People don’t even realise what they’re for.

The fact we can offer a whole range of protection, both physical and active, is what makes Townscape products unique. We also offer perimeter security consultations prior to installation to ensure the most effective approach is taken.

CT Sentry Block

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