Situated in Sheffield, right in the heart of the Don Valley, the aptly-named Valley Leisure Park complements the adjacent Sheffield Arena and Don Valley Stadium as one of Yorkshire’s premier leisure facilities.
Attracting thousands of visitors each week, the Leisure Park boasts one of the UK’s largest multiplex cinemas (housing over 20 screens), a Hollywood Bowl complex and multiple restaurants – among them Chiquito, Bitz and Pizza, The Boardwalk, Old Orleans, Burger King and Brannigans.
Built in 1998 on the site of one of the city’s disused steel mills, the Leisure Park quickly gained a reputation among locals as the place to go for an exciting and diverse experience. Teenagers and adults alike enjoy spending their evenings and weekends there, while the school holidays see children and families out for the day or the evening to take in a film or a game of ten-pin bowling, followed by a quick bite to eat.
As part of the Park’s original design specification, a security plan was implemented to include a purpose-built Control Centre and a dedicated CCTV system. With the Park growing in popularity, and its customer base expanding, Donaldson’s – the management group of Sheffield Valley Centertainment – felt an upgrade to the system was necessary in order to take advantage of technological developments in surveillance technology.
Panasonic Premier Integrator Reflex Systems of South Yorkshire has significant expertise in this sector, and is a long-term partner at other similar sites owned by Donaldson’s (‘CCTV in the Park’, SMT, March 2007, pp44-46). Given what is now a long-standing relationship, Reflex was an obvious choice to meet the owner’s objective of better site management as the by-product of a significantly upgraded, high performance surveillance system.
Determining end user needs
Reflex’s David Kynman (group sales director) and Steve Ward (project director) carried out a comprehensive security audit on the site having liaised constantly with Sheffield Valley Centertainment’s operations manager Mike Jeffries to determine the latter’s requirements. Subsequently, it was decided that a Panasonic-based systems solution would best meet the stringent specifications.
To begin meeting the various objectives, Reflex installed WV-CW860 dome cameras right across the site. The WV-CW860 unit’s integrated housing is specifically developed for ‘all weather’ outdoor use, rendering it the ideal choice for exterior surveillance operations.
Making best use of a 22x zoom lens in tandem with high-speed panning, the WV-CW860’s colour camera takes full advantage of its Super Dynamic II technology, employing a day/night switching mode allied to an extremely capable 510 TV lines resolution. This high performance specification allows the Leisure Park’s CCTV operators to pinpoint individuals even in extremely low light conditions (visual monitoring is effective in outdoor lighting levels as low as 0.03 lux).
The system’s camera images are transmitted via coax cabling to the on-site Control Centre. Populated 24 hours per day, the Control Centre is fully-equipped with WV-CM1780 17″ colour monitors and a WJ-HD316A 16-channel digital recorder. Programmed to record 120 images per second, it allows operators to review clear images of any incidents captured – making the identification of any individuals involved an easier task.
Video playback and review is controlled intuitively via a corresponding WV-CU650CJ/B controller that also manages the system’s WJ-SX150A camera switching matrix. The WV-CU650CJ/B controller was chosen for Valley Centertainment due to the busy Control Centre environment that pertains.
Several operator shifts per day result in many different end user preferences. The intuitive ‘user-assignable’ controls and programmable pre-set modes – coupled with the ambidextrous design of the joystick – allows any operator to become instantly comfortable with their working environment.
As is the case at The Coliseum Leisure and Retail Park in Ellesmere Port, Mike Jeffries employs only Security Industry Authority-licensed operators in Valley Centertainment’s Control Centre. “That helps to ensure that we are compliant with Best Practice operation at all times,” insists Jeffries.
“Our investment in skilled, licensed operators coupled with the latest surveillance technology allows for an effective overview of any potential or actual incidents, while the corresponding investment in staff training guarantees a measured and professional response to situations. That’s essential.”
CCTV and the Safer Parking Award
The new system comprehensively covers the site’s award-winning secure car parking area (which has space to accommodate 1,200 vehicles), business units (including their back-of-house areas like loading bays), a dedicated tram stop on Sheffield’s SuperTram network and arterial roadways, pubs and assorted other industrial units surrounding the complex.
Access to an effective surveillance system tailor-made to the end user’s needs has proven invaluable to Mike Jeffries and his Security Team. “Without a high performance surveillance system like we have, a successful public entertainment venue would require a vast amount of human resources to make certain of its security and safety,” continues Jeffries. “When visiting a large-scale entertainment venue like this, customers should never have the feeling that either they or items of their property are open to danger.”
Jeffries is quick to point out that the new surveillance system was instrumental in the operation obtaining a Safer Parking Award. These awards are part of the Safer Parking Scheme run by the Association of Chief Police Officers, an initiative aimed at reducing crime and the fear of crime in parking areas.
The awards are granted to parking areas achieving the requirements of both a risk assessment conducted by the police, and a review of the management practices of the operator carried out by the British Parking Association. “Since the new CCTV system was installed there hasn’t been a single incidence of vehicle theft from the site,” adds Jeffries with obvious pride, “while accidental damage to any vehicles left on the premises can be quickly resolved if any ‘parking mishaps’ are captured on the high definition system.”
Jeffries also reveals that the CCTV set-up has been brought into effect to combat insurance fraud. He takes up the story. “We had a report of a vehicle theft from a member of the public, who had informed the police that this vehicle had been taken from our car park at a specific time and date.”
With a suspicion that this wasn’t actually the case, police officers – in tandem with Valley Centertainment’s Security Team – investigated archive video footage of the nominated time period. “We were able to use the archive system to review the exact time and date in question. To our surprise, we discovered that the vehicle hadn’t even visited our premises, and so could not have been stolen from them!”
Jeffries carries on the theme. “We’ve also had incidents when our experienced operators have spotted youths – including the driver – consuming alcohol in some of the vehicles parked on site. Our immediate course of action is to contact the police, imparting to them all vehicle details such that they can act swiftly in removing drink-drivers from the roads.”
Information drip-feed is vital
The surveillance system can also be used to act upon information gathered from the Leisure Park’s resident businesses.
“We recently had a report of a young girl’s mobile phone being stolen while she was playing on an arcade machine inside the bowling alley,” describes Jeffries. “Staff alerted members of the Security Team with a comprehensive description of the male they believed to be responsible, mainly due to his erratic behaviour at the time of the incident. Using the CCTV system, we were able to locate the individual and alert the police as to his whereabouts. On interception, the girl’s phone was recovered and the suspect arrested.”
The Security Team also performs daily tasks assisting with vehicle management on site. One of the most ‘security sensitive’ of these is the delivery of cash to businesses on the Park, as well as the on-site cash machines. Daily deliveries are monitored by the Control Centre operators for the safety of members of the public and Cash-in-Transit personnel.
“Cash-in-Transit crews make frequent visits to replenish stocks in the ATMs,” adds Jeffries. “Part of the on-site Security Team’s daily routine is to keep these personnel and their armoured vehicles under constant surveillance while they are within our boundaries on the Park. We haven’t experienced any specific problems with these deliveries, but common sense tells us that we cannot take any chances.”
Health and Safety monitoring
The new CCTV system is not only deployed for security reasons, but also as a frontline Health and Safety tool.
A typical example of this occurred when Control Centre staff noticed two children fast asleep in a locked vehicle, in direct sunlight on what was an extremely hot summer’s day. Intuitive and rapid routes through to the archived footage allowed operators to identify the car’s owners. The Security Team on the ground was then scrambled and a search instigated. This resulted in the child’s parents being found in one of the Park’s restaurants. The children were then removed from the vehicle and any danger was averted.”
CCTV: the extra ‘eyes and ears’
Due to the surveillance ‘overview’ the Panasonic system affords, Mike Jeffries is able to deploy just five ‘on foot’ security officers to cover the extensive facility (even during its busiest periods).
“The system is invaluable for the management of Sheffield Valley Centertainment. A high performance CCTV system can be the eyes and ears of a modern leisure complex like ours,” concludes Mike Jeffries. “It’s like having an extra 20 ‘ever alert’ security personnel that never go home!”
Since the system went live, Jeffries and his team haven’t had a single instance of a break-in, graffiti or vehicle theft at the Park. “It’s just not an issue anymore.”
What better advert do you need for bespoke end user surveillance?