In 2006, building work at several major sporting arenas – including Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium and the new stands at Royal Ascot – has either been completed or (as is the case with the new National Stadium at Wembley) is in progress. Such projects require considerable integration between the private and public sectors in terms of their planning and management. Only then will stakeholders be guaranteed a safe and secure environment for competitors and spectators. Throw into the mix the fact that London is due to host the Olympic Games in 2012, and it’s pretty apparent that security for major projects is top of the agenda.
The objective of Consec 2006 – the annual Conference and Exhibition run by the Association of Security Consultants (ASC) was to focus the minds of all 150 delegates attending The Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon in north London on the problems that major public realm project teams face when attempting to provide a secure environment, and on how security solutions might be delivered.
Following an introductory address courtesy of Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate (the ASC’s current chairman), Graham Fulcher of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Major Projects Team discussed the impact of good security measures. Highlighting Arsenal FC’s magnificent new home at Ashburton Grove, Fulcher’s key message was to stress the importance of security specialists being brought in at the design stage, not at the end of the build process. That is absolutely crucial, and one hopes this point will be read and digested. How the industry sets about realising this on EVERY significant construction project is another matter entirely.
Countering vehicle-borne threats
Next to the podium was Paul Forman, an employee of the National Security Advice Centre who sits within the Vehicle, Highways and Traffic Portfolio. Paul’s work is interesting to say the least, as he spends many hours mapping “how far the ‘hostiles’ are climbing up the learning curve” in trying to defeat security measures, while at the same time offering salient advice to building owners and operators, regulatory bodies and the police service as to how they might improve their protection regimes.
“It’s the time it takes for criminals to breach your defences that really counts,” suggested Forman, who would like to see less reliance on the checking of passes and a return to electronic systems-based protection. “We also have to divorce hierarchy in a given company from access privileges.” An excellent observation.
Like Graham Fulcher, Forman wants to see this kind of planning carried out at the earliest possible juncture. “If you have to retrofit, then vertical deflectors like road humps and pot holes are an option. A better choice, though, would be the addition of chicanes in approach roads to the building to influence steering profile. You can also add high kerbs and introduce bollards. Manganese cast steel bollards will stop trucks in their tracks.” They do. Forman showed us a video of a recent test. There wasn’t much of the truck left after it hit the barricade provided!
When it comes to rising blocker systems, Forman warned security consultants and end users they should never assume that American State Department standards will be applicable here, given the different nature of vehicle construction ‘across the Pond’.
Streetscape security: the options
Peter Heath – associate director at consultant Atkins then reviewed the implementation of streetscape security measures.
Consultants and security managers need to be thinking in terms of day and night scenarios, it seems. “Defensible space layouts, frontage security, integrated solutions involving CCTV and lighting and general street ‘policing’ are all issues to be considered,” opined Heath.
Obtaining consent for security measures in the public space arena isn’t always easy, of course. “Consultants should focus on maximising the space available to them while minimising clutter,” added Heath. “There is a civil liberties issue at stake here. If we are going to limit the number of ‘No Go Zones’ then it follows that the management of the public realm must be improved.”
Wembley: a new era beckons
Prior to luncheon, David Crump (Quintain’s head of construction and project management) talked about the massive construction programme that’s currently creating a whole new district of London on an ‘island’ in Wembley.
The Football Association owns the National Stadium site, but that needs to be integrated with the business and retail space and 6,000 homes springing up around its perimeters. Then there’s the Wembley Arena. Recently re-aligned, refurbished and now re-opened, it holds 13,500 people and hosts 200-plus events each year. Security must be of the highest order.
“24/7 Command and Control, meshing what we want to achieve with the local policing operation and making sure that the CCTV installations are right are all top priorities for us,” commented Crump. “We also need to provide an expandable communications backbone. So far, we have learned about the importance of a good brief, an excellent contract and the need for a committed project team. Continual review of that team’s performance is also an essential.”
The presentation given by Andrew Amery (head of security for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) is covered within Part One of SMT’s comprehensive review of the 2006 Skills for Security National Conference
Consec 2006 was sponsored by Lenel, Frontline Security Solutions, JVC Professional Europe, Beacon Security, Axis Communications, Salto, MAXxess and SMT
