Asprey’s flagship store in New Bond Street is 20,000 square feet of British retail opulence.
Designed by Lord Foster and decorated by British interior designer David Mlinaric, the New Bond Street store took two years to develop and more than adequately lives up to the Asprey aspiration to be the ultimate authentic British luxury lifestyle house.
The building is as stunning as the contents of its shelves and display cases. 167 New Bond Street, the home of Asprey since 1847, consists of several historically significant listed buildings. The redevelopment of the site has achieved a subtle blend of these unique period buildings with highly creative new architectural and design elements. The centrepiece of the store is a glass roof atrium that creates an indoor space connecting all the various buildings. A grand staircase reminiscent of a more stately age enables the entranced shopper to glide through the store’s multiple floors.
Long associated with jewellery of course, the Asprey brand today extends through jewellery and silverware, watches and pens, leather goods and silk, china and crystal, ready-to-wear, shoes and fashion accessories.
Executed with a subtlety befitting the setting, Asprey’s security system was designed into the redevelopment of the store from very early on in the design process. To achieve this Asprey turned to AVT, the Taunton-based installer with an impressive list of existing clients up and down New Bond Street. Managing Director Mark Kemp explains that large projects such as Asprey’s require a completely different approach to installation.
Mark Kemp says: “Standard projects allow a window in the programme to carry out the first fix installation whereas with the large project you have to conform to the main contractors’ programme of works which involves being able to respond to project hot spots as areas become available. This is possible by having a flexible team of engineers on the project from start to finish.
“All too often security installations are over looked by the project planners and are installed as an after thought with wiring being installed in a manner which is far from ideal; on this project we were pushing the electrical contractor for containment all the way to completion. Our doggedness paid off with all the cabling built into the building – a combination of RG59 and CAT5 – and capacity for many more cameras than are actually connected at present.”
Unusually AVT always request that the control room of an installation is the first area to be completed as this enables the engineers to continue the installation whilst the building is progressing.
The permanently manned control desk features 15 Samsung flat screens (SMT-151MP) and a PC monitor which hosts remote viewing software. There is a further PC for remote viewing at the security reception desk. Some of the monitors are set to display 16 cameras at once; others are used as ‘call off’ monitors so staff can focus on a particular view at any one time without losing sight of the whole installation. The monitors are further divided between high and low risk cameras. Mark Kemp believes that applying this level of detail to the control room configuration improves the effectiveness of the manned operation.
The 24-hour recording is onto eight 16-way, 400GB Vadis Digital Video Recorders set at 25 frames per second. Should the security staff need to record suspicious behaviour within the store in real time two Vista Solo DVR with 80GB removable hard disks and flash card functionality (SOLO-80F) are permanently available and set to record at 50 frames per second.
A total of 112 cameras are installed around Asprey of which one hundred are white Vista fixed domes (VFD4V9C/We), four are miniature Vista bullet cameras and eight are PTZ 360 Vision Domes are even fitted in the security control room.
Mark Kemp says: “System design and sensitive installation is critical in a location like Asprey. Very sensitive adjustments need to be made to take account of the internal and external lighting conditions, display case glare and even flashback from many of the stunning items on sale. Architectural sensitivity was also essential. For instance the bullet cameras had to be used in one room where a non-ceiling mounted solution was essential because the decorative plaster ceiling is listed. We were also prevented from locating the PTZ domes in certain areas, as this would compromise the discreet nature of the system as a whole.
“From the outset of the project we worked closely with the client and the project designers Fosters and Partners to ensure the technical aspects as well as the aesthetics of the equipment were taken into account. We are very conscious that our clients spend considerable amounts of money on design and they are understandably wary of allowing equipment to be fixed to walls and ceiling which may compromise the design of the building. This partly influenced our choice of Vista Domes and Bullet Cameras.”
Mark Kemp has worked with Norbain since the early 1990s and Norbain has been AVT’s preferred supplier since the company was founded.
He says: “Norbain provided an excellent service, ensuring equipment was on site on the dates requested and when project changes took place were able to assist in supplying equipment at very short notice. Our sales contact at Norbain is very quick to respond.”
Neil Phillips, the A+G UK Group Security Manager, says: “From my perspective AVT is an extremely easy contractor to work with. Mark’s engineers are of a high calibre and always provide a higher level of service than I would expect from the type of contract that I have with AVT. The equipment that AVT have installed here is amongst the most reliable and advanced on the market, which ensures that my team at Asprey are suitably equipped to conduct their work. We experienced only minor problems with the installation as you expect on a project of this size, which were due mainly to delays in access and containment for the AVT engineers.”
“I have developed trust with AVT and know that when problems arise, as they inevitably do with complex installations, problems will be addressed swiftly with no compromise on the effectiveness of our security.”
The total project lasted nine months including five months when AVT staff were constantly on site. Since going live AVT engineers have maintained regular visits to help refine and continue the development of the system as required by Neil Phillips. Such customer focus is only possible because of a concentration of AVT customers in the immediate vicinity.
Mark Kemp adds: “Asprey was a challenging project, and one of only a few projects where you’ll find CCTV engineers wearing white gloves! Unable to work during normal opening hours and with so many constituents to please from architects and designers to Asprey themselves, this installation tested our system design skills to the full. The result though is a very effective security system that compromises neither the Asprey brand nor the wonderful building in which it’s situated.”
About the installer
Mark Kemp, AVT Managing Director, has been working with the Asprey group since 1989. Other New Bond Street customers include Cartier, Tiffany and Co and Watches of Switzerland. AVT is the official partner of Baselworld 2005, the largest watch and jewellery exhibition.
