News from Unique Integrated Systems

BOSCH CAMERAS KEEP STAFF AND PUPILS SAFE AT SCHOOL

Following a major investment programme at Cansfield High School, Wigan Council now relies on vandal resistant cameras from Bosch Security Systems, which have been installed by UIS as part of a new CCTV system to safeguard staff, students and property.

UIS was approached by Wigan Council to install a new surveillance system that includes more than 30 Bosch FlexiDome cameras set up to monitor the school’s corridors and hallways, to prevent vandalism and improve security.

The project was carried out over the Easter holidays to minimise class disruption and was successfully completed within two weeks. Images are monitored two days a week by a Community Support Officer and recorded for reference in case of an incident.

Tony Hollinrake, Principal Officer of the Risk Management Team at Wigan Council explains: “Following on from from the CCTV system installed at St John Fisher High School last year, we wanted to install Bosch cameras at Cansfield to help deter anti-social behaviour like loitering, smoking and general misbehaviour.

“The cameras are working as we had hoped, the images are of a very high quality. We haven’t had any incidents to date but as and when the cameras are called into action I am confident we will be pleased with the recordings.”

Established as a flagship Specialist College and from 2007 as a Specialist Training School, it has undergone a multi-million pound investment programme. The school has state of the art class rooms with interactive whiteboards, along with technology workshops, specialist art rooms, science laboratories and dedicated ICT suites, and a new CCTV network was crucial to safeguard the investment in these facilities.

Operations Director at UIS, Mark Ashall adds: “As with all such projects, we use Bosch cameras as they are very reliable and the pictures are very high quality. These particular FlexiDomes are extremely compact which is a major advantage as space was at a premium in some of the school’s corridors.

“We are confident that we will rarely if ever have to revisit a site once we have completed the initial installation. This gives us and the client the reassurance that they will not need further maintenance or repair work and reducing the overall cost of ownership.”

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WIGAN SHARPENS ITS VIEW ON CRIME

Wigan Town centre experiences the same anti-social problems as every small town in the country and when the existing camera network was in need of upgrading, Unique Integrated Systems installed more than 50 Bosch Dinion XF Day/Night cameras for the project.

Wigan Council approached UIS on the basis of its proven expertise on a number of previous installations, including work on several high schools in the area and the town centre.

The entire 500 plus camera network that covers the town centre is being revamped as the pictures being captured were not of sufficiently high resolution for easy monitoring and recording.

Tony Hollinrake of Wigan Council’s Security Solution Section explains: “King Street in Wigan is one of the most popular places to go out on a Friday and Saturday night and can attract more than 10,000 people. It is not uncommon for anti-social behaviour to occur and it is vital that we can record good quality images to aid the police in prosecution should they need it.

“The Bosch cameras that have been installed are working fantastically; the night time images are so clear it is almost like they were captured in broad daylight. We are very pleased and will be using the same cameras on the remaining upgrade.”

Mark Ashall, Operations Director at UIS comments: “The existing network was 10 years old and the council was finding that the images lacked clarity and were becoming a bit sluggish when operating.

“We invariably specify Bosch cameras for projects as the reliability is second to none. We know that once the project is completed we will not have to go back to fix anything and the quality of the pictures is excellent.”

Bosch Security System engineers visited Wigan days after the installation was completed as Tony Hollinrake continues: “The project was completed in less than three weeks so we were running the cameras by the end of April, and there have not been any problems with the installation nor with their performance since.”

Images from the cameras are transmitted to the Council’s new monitoring suite in the dedicated control centre in the town hall. The CCTV monitoring suite – supervised by six Bosch vandal resistant domes - rates among the best in the country, and the 550 cameras covering the town centre, public areas, council properties and various civil amenities make Wigan one of the safest town centres in the country.

Tony Hollinrake concludes: “Following the large investment of new equipment in the control centre, it was important to have this safeguarded with CCTV. As we use Bosch cameras throughout the town, it was an obvious choice to use Bosch technology in the monitoring suite too.”

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UIS USES VIDEOSWITCH FOR CITY LINK DEPOTS

Videoswitch DVRs have been specified as part of the CCTV system upgrade recently carried out by UIS at 45 City Link depots and are to play a key role in the future rollout programme of new depots.

“City Link is committed to protecting its properties against security, operational and business risks,” said Stuart Godman, Sales & Marketing Director, “We have worked closely in partnership with Unique Integrated Systems to ensure that we invest in quality security systems and that they are upgraded continually. We have been happy to accept Unique Integrated Systems’ advice that the Videoswitch DVR should be deployed because of its reputation for reliability and ease of use, as it is primarily a tool used by non security management personnel on a daily basis.”

The CCTV systems which are remotely monitored 24/7 by City Link’s own central control room, are mainly used by City Link to prevent and detect security incidents. The systems, however, are also used to monitor Health & Safety, operational and security procedure compliance, and as a general management review tool, it provides data to identify preventative and corrective actions in many areas of operational activity.

“We have been pleased with the results achieved so far due to the quality of the images recorded,” added Stuart Godman. “Video evidence has been used by the police in criminal prosecutions and by City Link management in disciplinary cases, as well as in reviewing many Health and Safety issues.”

City Link is one of the UK’s leading premium express delivery companies and is this year celebrating 40 years in business. It has a network of 100 depots, employs more than 6,500 people and operates a fleet of 3,500 vehicles. In recent months City Link has enjoyed a number of significant contract wins, invested over £2.5 million in I.T. development systems and continues with its investment in its depot refurbishment.
UIS Managing Director Paul Brown said: “City Link depots range in size from 25,000 to 65,000 sq ft and understanding the client’s day-to-day operational requirements at each site is of course essential in order to be able to recommend an effective CCTV system. Our research on behalf of City Link led us to believe that the Videoswitch Vi405 Slimline DVR would be very easy to operate with City Link personnel being able to set-up recording between 1 and 999 days or by frame rate per camera. Video evidence can be retrieved by simply pressing a “Burn” key and the recorded video is then written onto a CD or DVD, using the DVR’s built-in DVD writer.”

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CAMERAS KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON CITY LINK

City Link, one of the country’s leading premium express delivery companies, is using a range of high technology security cameras and domes from Bosch Security Systems at Depots throughout the UK as an integral part of its security strategy.

The cameras were specified by UIS because of their reliability, image quality and the technical support available with the installation process, according to Managing Director Paul Brown.

“City Link depots are spread throughout the UK, so the reliability of the technology we install is imperative,” he says. “The security teams have been impressed with the quality of Bosch Gen 3 domes, and want to make sure that they have the very latest technology available.”

UIS has recently upgraded systems in Aberdeen, Middlesbrough, Manchester, Preston, Leicester, Shrewsbury, Okehampton, Gloucester, Cowes, Glasgow, Exeter and Plymouth. Installations at three new depots in Coventry, Norwich and Kidderminster have included a total of 48 cameras – 15 VG4 domes, 21 LTC 0455 Dinion vandal resistant flexi-domes, and 12 VDM 0455.

City Link depots range from 25,000 to 65,000 sq ft and are normally a mixture of offices, warehouse facilities and a yard, as Paul continues: “Usually projects of this size take around six weeks, but for the three new sites the work had to be completed within four. It was quite a challenge, but again this is where being able to install cameras where we know there won’t be any subsequent issues with performance is a major advantage.”

Stuart Godman, Sales & Marketing Director, City Link commented: “At City Link we understand the importance of investing in our security systems as part of our commitment to our customers. We pride ourselves on delivering premium express delivery services and to do this we must continue to invest heavily in a safe and secure network and that is why we chose quality partners such as Bosch and UIS.”

City Link, which this year celebrates 40 years in business, has a network of 100 depots, employs more than 6,500 people and operates a fleet of 3,500 vehicles. In recent months the company has also enjoyed a number of significant contract wins, invested over £2.5 million in IT development systems and continues with its investment in its depot refurbishment.

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UIS FITS OUT WIGAN’S NEW CCTV MONITORING SUITE

Unique Integrated Systems has installed a range of CCTV monitoring systems at a new monitoring suite owned by Wigan Council. Carried out in preparation for a change of premises, the project has enabled the authority to make a smooth transition from one property to another without any disruption to its monitoring capabilities.

The project was designed to facilitate effective observation and protection of a number of public spaces and council owned properties from a new, dedicated control centre in the town hall. It entailed the relocation of existing recording equipment and the installation of a new matrix, cameras and fibre-optic cabling.

The scope and sequencing of the work were agreed through discussions with Tony Hollinrake, Principal Officer of Wigan Council’s Risk Management & CCTV Section. Scheduled to run over a six month period in 2008, the project began with the installation of a Meyertech Multi-Site Matrix 256x128, which required a substantial amount of wiring on the part of UIS engineers.

In order to use the relocation as an opportunity to extend the capabilities of the existing CCTV network, Wigan Council asked UIS to fit a number of new systems including Bosch cameras, IFS fibre-optic transmission equipment, Addlestone video distribution amplifier equipment and Dedicated Micros digital video recorders.

The short timeframe meant that UIS engineers had to liaise frequently and effectively with council staff and other parties in order to ensure that work could progress efficiently. As a result, the project was completed promptly and within the agreed budget, allowing the new control centre to open a month ahead of schedule.

Describing the project, Tony Hollinrake said: “Facilitating the relocation of the new CCTV Monitoring Suite was one of the biggest tasks that our section has undertaken in the past decade. Working closely with UIS ensured that what was a complicated and demanding project was delivered with the minimum downtime, which is a credit to the UIS engineers involved in the project.

"From the design stage to full implementation, we worked very closely with UIS to ensure we delivered a fantastic purpose built CCTV monitoring suite that now rates amongst the best in the country. I feel it is a fantastic achievement and something that Wigan Council and UIS are very proud of”.

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Notes:

• Wigan’s CCTV system was recently the subject of “CCTV Cities” - a Channel 5 documentary with Donal McIntyre. “Wigan is rightly proud of its reputation – it’s one of the safest town centres in the country,” says Donal. “A crucial part in that well-deserved reputation is the part played by CCTV.”
• There are now more than 550 council-owned CCTV cameras operating within Wigan Borough. These cover town centres, public areas, council properties and various civil amenities.
• The new control room features rear screen projection units and Genie flat screen monitors.

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Community Support from UIS

Conscious of the importance of local communities, UIS recently made the decision to sponsor local under-nines football team, Knowsley South. The team, which is currently performing well in the Rainhill & St Helens Mini Soccer League, needed a new away strip, so UIS came to its aid.

A team photo showing the new strip, together with details of the club's forthcoming fixtures can be found on the team website. (Opens in a new window.)

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UIS Upgrades Security at Kings Business Park, Liverpool

UIS has recently completed a large scale security upgrade at Kings Business Park in Prescot, Liverpool. Commissioned by Commercial Development Projects Limited as an extension to a CCTV installation project completed by UIS some 10 months previously, the contract entailed fitting a broad range of CCTV cameras, video transmission equipment and external passive infra-red (PIR) detection systems.

The purpose of the project was to extend the existing security coverage to encompass car parks, roadways and additional buildings on the site in order to provide comprehensive protection for the resident businesses and employees. The scale of the site and the physical characteristics of the areas to be covered meant that a high-specification security system was required.

Following discussions with the client to design a scheme that would meet all relevant requirements, UIS engineers began work in April 2008. They installed a number of different systems including a Pelco 32X6 CCTV Matrix, Pelco SD fully functional dome cameras, Bosch vandal-resistant cameras, Dedicated Micros digital video recorders and WEC CCTV columns.

The on-site monitoring equipment is supported by digital video recorders, NVT transmission equipment and Redwall external detection systems.

In order to maintain strict control of quality and the installation schedule, UIS handled civil and electrical works in addition to the installation of the security systems and cabling.

An important factor in delivering the project on time was the need for close liaison with the local planning department. Part of the site includes an historic walled garden that is subject to a conservation order, so UIS engineers were careful to maintain excellent communications with the client and local authority staff in order to secure planning consent. Having done so, the installation team ensured that all work was delivered in strict compliance with the terms of the approved development.

“The latest project has been wholly successful,” said Dale Fox of Commercial Development Projects Ltd. “We developed a good working relationship with UIS in the original phase last year and I’m pleased to see that the company has lived up to our expectations once again. The completion of the job means that we have put in place a first class security system that provides effective, 24 hour protection for this very prestigious development.”

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Channel 5 Documentary Examines Success of Wigan's CCTV

On 14th July 2008, Channel 5 aired the fourth episode in its series "CCTV Cities". Presented by Donal McIntyre, the programme focused on Wigan town centre and the role that CCTV plays in keeping local people safe.

UIS has been closely involved with the design, installation and maintenance of Wigan Council's CCTV systems and was therefore pleased by the documentary's glowing praise for its effectiveness.

“Wigan is rightly proud of its reputation – it’s one of the safest town centres in the country,” says Donal. “A crucial part in that well-deserved reputation is the part played by CCTV.”

The episode can be watched by visiting the 'Demand Five' website (requires registration.)

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UIS Installation at Albert Dock

UIS has recently undertaken a prestigious CCTV installation project at Albert Dock in Liverpool.

Working on partnership with managing agents CB Richard Ellis, UIS has been engaged in an ongoing upgrade of CCTV systems in the area and Merseyside Police has commended its work as the best installation in the city.

The system featured the use of high performance EnviroDome cameras from Bosch Security Systems and the company has produced a detailed press release about the project, which can be found by visiting the Bosch Security Systems website. (PDF file, opens in new window.)

A press cutting from Professional Security magazine can be seen here. (PDF file, 1.2MB.)

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UIS Upgrades School Security

Again using Bosch cameras, UIS has recently completed a security installation project for St John Fisher Catholic High School in Wigan. Working with Tony Hollinrake of Wigan Council’s Security Solution Section, UIS installed CCTV systems that enable monitoring both on site and from a remote control centre.

For more details, please see the full press release on the Bosch Security Systems website. (PDF file, opens in new window.)

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UIS Wins Achilles Accreditation

In May 2008, Unique Integrated Systems was registered as a supplier on the Utilities Vendor Database having achieved accreditation from Achilles, the international supplier certification body.

UIS is now registered with a host of major utility suppliers and related organisations under two categories:

• 'Fire Protection and Maintenance Services' and
• 'Security Equipment Installation and Maintenance'.

Achilles works to identify, qualify, evaluate, and monitor suppliers on behalf of major organisations worldwide. In the UK, the Utilities Vendor Database is used by such organisations as British Gas, the British Nuclear Group, Centrica, the National Grid, nPower, Powergen and United Utilities, amongst others.

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Wigan Council uses CCTV as tool in fight against crime

(Press release produced by Norbain, March 2008.)

Wigan Council has had 33 Pelco Esprit cameras, supplied by Norbain, added to their already extensive CCTV system to ensure that they are using the most up to date technology to monitor activity in the city centre. The new cameras have proved very simple to operate and form an important tool in the fight against crime.

Wigan is currently undergoing a multi-million pound refurbishment and an essential part of this new scheme is ensuring that people feel safe in the area. One part of the solution comes in the form of CCTV. There are currently 550 cameras in operation across the borough, with continual additions and improvements being made.

In the town centre itself, Terry Bolton, principal officer for Wigan Council, wanted to update the existing kit which was rather complex to operate and had become expensive to maintain. "We were especially keen to make zooming and focusing easier so that operators could more effectively track suspects," he explains.

Installers Unique Integrated Systems Ltd (UIS) were called in to advise on the project. "UIS have been the Council Approved Supplier for almost seven years now and the relationship we’ve built up over the years means that we know they’ll give us excellent advice and service," says Mr Bolton.

The Council has a policy of trialling their CCTV equipment before it’s purchased. "Dome cameras were initially trialled for the job, but it was found that blind spots prevented them from getting the best view of the surrounding area. The Esprit cameras offer us an overt solution to CCTV," says Mr Bolton. "People don’t know where the dome cameras are looking, but this is obvious with the Esprit cameras and we’ve found this to be more of a deterrent."

The control room has an impressive wall of rear screen projection units along with individual Samsung and Bosch flat screen monitors. "As with the cameras, we trialled a number of flat screen units before making a decision," explains Mr Bolton. "Interestingly, the morning shift favoured the Samsung screens, while the later shift thought the Bosch screens gave a better image quality in reduced light conditions. It made sense to get both so that the best pictures could be viewed whatever the time of day or night."

The Pelco cameras have all been positioned on poles that afford operators a 360 degree view of the area. Each of the columns is within view of another giving overlapping footage. This means that no key area is overlooked and, should a column develop a problem, one of the adjoining columns can cover the area.

Equipment suppliers Norbain played an important part in the project. "We’ve got an excellent relationship with them," says Mark Ashall, operations director for UIS. "They’ve really bent over backwards for us over the years and have always come through, even against very tight time scales. It’s not just about price with them, it’s the service, technical support and returns policy that really makes the difference."

Looking at the effectiveness of CCTV in the fight against crime, Mr Bolton believes that it certainly plays its part. "CCTV acts both as a deterrent and as an investigative tool for our partners," he says. "All the relevant partners need to work together and communicate regularly to most effectively tackle the problem."

About Unique Integrated Systems Ltd
UIS specialises in the design, installation and maintenance of high quality electronic security systems from intruder alarms, CCTV systems and access control systems to fully integrated security and communications packages. An NSI gold medal installer, they can handle projects of all sizes, from a simple installation to long term, multi-site maintenance contracts.

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Comprehensive Security for Wigan School

Unique Integrated Systems recently completed a large scale security upgrade at Hindley Community High School in Wigan. The contract entailed the installation of CCTV, security lighting, video transmission equipment and external passive infra-red (PIR) detection systems.

The work was commissioned to provide comprehensive coverage of the site perimeter and internal areas such as corridors and stairwells. Given the school’s large scale and the need to encompass a variety of buildings, an extensive and high-specification security system was therefore required.

The upgrade of this system was designed by Tony Hollinrake of Wigan Council’s Security Section working together with UIS and the client. UIS engineers installed a range of different cameras including Bosch vandal-resistant fixed domes, Bosch G3 fully functional domes and dedicated micros. In all, the site was equipped with 57 cameras, supported by DM digital video recorders and Vista SmartTel video transmission equipment, which enabled all footage to be observed and recorded at the Council’s CCTV control room.

An important feature of the system was that it enabled the site to be watched by both school staff and by operatives at the Council’s remote monitoring centre. This meant that the project would achieve two key outcomes; maximising security and providing an invaluable tool for maintaining the highest possible standards of health and safety. The monitoring systems can be used by staff during the day to observe activity in and around the school, thereby helping to protect the safety and well being of pupils and to help prevent unauthorised entry to the grounds.

“This was a major upgrade of our CCTV system,” said head teacher, Mrs J Lees. “I want to pass on my thanks to the engineers from UIS, who were all highly efficient and accommodating. They quickly and unobtrusively did and excellent job.”

Tony Hollinrake commented: “Wigan Council’s Security Section worked very closely with Unique Integrated Systems and Hindley Community High School on the upgrade of the system. As Design and Project Manager for the Council, I can say that the service provided by UIS was excellent from start to finish. Various sections of the Council are speaking about the system in glowing terms and it is a credit to the company for the high standards of service they provided for this scheme.

“Wigan Council’s remote monitoring centre monitors the system via video transmission and provides a 24/7 service for alarm-triggered CCTV systems, which adds to the security of the school when it is closed.”

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