Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie’s conducted the greatest auctions of the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries. Today, it remains a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful of the art world. The organisation offers over 600 sales annually across upwards of 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wines, cars and much, much more, with successful bidders paying anything from $200 to over $80 million.
Worldwide sales for the first half of 2007 totalled GB pound 1.63 billion, representing an increase of 32% over the same period last year and the highest half-year sales ever in the art market’s history. Pretty impressive, isn’t it?
To achieve figures like that, Christie’s manages 85 offices in 43 countries and 14 sales rooms around the world. All of the major cities feature, including London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Dubai and Hong Kong. Most recently, Christie’s has led the way with expanded initiatives in emerging markets such as China, India and the United Arab Emirates, at the same time hosting successful sales and exhibitions in Beijing, Mumbai and Russia.
Christie’s moved to its current headquarters at 8 King Street, St James’s, London in 1823. Many major international auctions have been conducted in the famous Great Room during the firm’s illustrious history. Recent sales have included the Collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild, which set a world auction record of $90 million for any European single-owner sale.
The Duty of Care
As you might expect, the Duty of Care Christie’s harbours on behalf of its customers and their wares is something that Peter Gwynn its international security manager takes very seriously. “The whole Christie’s philosophy is based on exemplary client service. Security has a vital part to play here,” he comments.
Gwynn is more than qualified to advise on security for Christie’s. Previously a detective chief superintendent of six years’ standing, he spent 30 years in the employ of the Metropolitan Police and City of London forces before transferring to the private sector. Gwynn initially spent a decade working at Lloyd’s before joining Christie’s in 2001. His job title is no misnomer, either. Gwynn provides a truly international security service, travelling around the globe to ensure that every single stage involving customers’ goods has sound and intelligent security at its heart.
There haven’t been many problems with art theft in the past, and Gwynn is obviously keen for that status quo to be maintained. “If you make the prospective target sufficiently difficult to obtain, then it becomes far less appealing,” suggests Gwynn. A simple and oh-so-true philosophy.
Over the years, Christie’s has honed an excellent security operation. Founded in 1985, Christie’s Fine Art Security Services (CFASS) currently provides the most comprehensive and flexible storage solutions for fine art and antiques. The most stringent of security and environmental standards have ensured that no harm has ever come to any object stored by CFASS. From a single painting to a vast collection of furniture, museums, collectors, art dealers and national governments have placed their trust in CFASS.
As you might expect, confidentiality and discretion is “guaranteed at all times”.
Expansion is the key
Significant sums of money have been invested to best serve the business, with a total focus on the client base. The present security regime combines traditional measures like CCTV and access control with clever management, infrastructure design and the ‘designed’ location of goods, either stored or on sale.
At Christie’s Nine Elms base, for example, impenetrable premises offer 100,000 square feet of storage space. More than 300 units of varying sizes, multi-units for storage of single items, exclusive or customised units are watched over by state-of-the-art security, tracking and environmental control systems. A single entrance and exit to the building coupled with a self-contained central Control Room adds to the security mix.
Security officers monitor air quality systems and all fire and smoke detectors throughout the building. Steel doors are activated automatically to seal off entire areas in the event of a fire hazard.
Like many other security managers, though, Peter Gwynn is always looking to streamline and update his operation, particularly in relation to surveillance. Until recently, Christie’s monitoring regime was based around an analogue tape arrangement. These tapes needed to be changed over every three hours. Around 3,000 tapes were being used on an annual basis, with huge banks of recorders and cumbersome monitors taking up an excess of space in the Control Room. Something had to be done.
Gwynn duly teamed up with John Hallet Christie’s security systems manager who heads up the in-house installation team in conducting almost three years of painstaking research. They wanted a powerful and flexible CCTV system that would be easy to operate.
Security at work
Eventually, Gwynn and Hallet settled on a mixture of Pelco’s Endura Network Video Recorder (NVR) and Spectra MiniDome cameras. Endura is an enterprise-class, network-based video security solution designed for mission critical applications where downtime is unacceptable. Built with expansion in mind, an Endura system can be scaled upwards from a few cameras to a few hundred to a few thousand while using the same hardware and software footprint.
That scalability makes it easier for the end user to expand their recording system as the need arises. At Christie’s, for example, plans for an extended system are already in the pipeline. “The system is IP-addressable, which means that we can add other sites in the UK as we go,” explains Hallet.
Hallet and his team carried out the systems upgrade installation. In use, the MiniDomes transmit images to the Network Video Technologies (NVT) hub. Here, they are converted to video streams by an encoder before being fed into the NVR. For this to be a reality, the team bypassed all existing coaxial cable and instead made use of Category5e cabling which transmits and receives power and video along the same cable.
“The use of this particular type of cabling undoubtedly represents the way forward,” adds Hallet with genuine conviction. “Not only does it allow us to cut down on cabling and render the installation procedure far easier, but it also forms an essential element in future-proofing the system.”
The system is now being added to all the while, with the older, wall-mounted cameras being phased out in favour of MiniDomes. To date, 56 new domes have been fitted internally and externally. That brings the total number of cameras at Christie’s to 180.
The Control Room Challenge
One of the biggest challenges during the upgrade project was the need to dismantle the old Control Room while still keeping the surveillance regime running. A temporary Control Room was set up to ensure that footage from all the cameras was still being captured and recorded during the six-month installation period.
The new central Control Room has been designed very much with the well-being of the operators in mind. “We really wanted a clean and tidy environment with no cables or wires in view,” chips in Peter Gwynn. “Everything from the air conditioning through to the lighting and the window blinds can be programmed to suit individual operator requirements. At the press of a button, the set-up may be adjusted automatically. It’s simplicity itself.”
The seven Endura NVRs, encoders and other items of supporting equipment are built-in to a specially enclosed casing with easy (but obviously secure) access through a corridor to the rear. Four 50-inch monitor screens have been recessed into the cupboards.
The Control Room has recently been inspected and certificated by the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB), the specialist certification body aimed at servicing the providers of electronic security systems, fire detection and alarm systems and security guarding services. It also boasts wall-mounted monitors in the managers’ offices. These show news feeds and CCTV footage from public rooms as well as the main sales room. A remote control is employed to switch channels to pre-determined areas.
Elements behind staff protection
The Endura itself consists of a workstation, VCD (controls, monitors and outputs) and the encoders. The workstation controls all coding which, in turn, dictates permissions or operator roles. This is extremely handy for the Christie’s Security Team as there are a number of different users and specific permissions can be established for each monitoring officer.
The cameras and access control system are in place not to keep an eye on the staff, but rather to ensure that they work in a secure and protected environment. “The security system is not intended to be a threat,” urges Gwynn. “In practice, it is used to everyone’s best advantage. Yes, it protects, but mostly it creates an inviting and yet safe and secure environment for every worker.”
By way of example, sensitive areas are monitored by cameras 24/7 to protect them should there be an incident, while access control and CCTV have been installed in all of the lifts such that only authorised personnel may use them. Interestingly, Gwynn believes that staff have developed an ‘ownership’ with the new proximity cards, which contain their picture as well as the famous Christie’s logo.
“The old, blank swipe cards were lost on a regular basis, but there hasn’t been a single replacement needed with the new proximity cards which is very encouraging.”
The Paxton Net2 access control system at Christie’s King Street hq consists of around 40 readers. Other branches across London use the same system. Everything is linked back to the central Control Room where cards are assigned and individual permissions set. Should a card be used to try and gain illegal entry to an authorised secure area, the cameras will automatically zoom-in on the door, allowing the monitoring officer in the Control Room to assess the situation and act accordingly.
Creating the right mood
Atmosphere is a key ingredient at Christie’s, as indeed it is in any major auction house. That being the case, for each auction the walls are covered with a coloured baize to create the right ambience. The old PTZ cameras were wall-mounted, and so were often knocked, broken or inadvertently re-positioned during baize fitting. The new Spectra Minis are ceiling-mounted, thus eliminating any obstacles to movement. They are also discreet.
“The security at Christie’s is necessarily low-key and extremely discreet,” affirms Peter Gwynn. “Nevertheless, the technology also provides a great investigative tool. For example, the access control system leaves an audit trail and is co-ordinated with the CCTV. This allows us to build a picture of an incident quickly and easily. If a client should mislay something, the system can be used to track and trace to see when they last had it.”
Alternative use for CCTV
Of late, the CCTV system has also found another use. A fault on one of the fire panels led to the total evacuation of the building. The cameras were able to monitor staff exits and examine how efficiently that evacuation was carried out. People movement throughout the entire building was monitored. The old system could never have achieved this, but it’s vital in times of emergency.
The last word surely has to belong to Peter Gwynn. “Security is all about strategy,” he informs me. “You need to have everything functioning as a single entity if you are to realise its full potential. The system we’ve chosen wasn’t the cheapest on offer, but it does afford us the best value for money now and in the future.”
Obviously, Gwynn is nothing if not a man of wise words.
