A case study of the CCTV at Verulam Point, St Albans.
Overlooking St Albans Station in the centre of the city, Verulam Point comprises 53,000 sq ft of corporate offices. Although built in 1991, the building has recently had a major refurbishment overseen by managing agents, Drivas Jonas LLP.
That firm ordered a new CCTV system as part of the refurbishment. "The original CCTV system which we inherited from the previous managing agents, was well past its ‘use by date," said Adrian La Riviere, Drivers Jones’ onsite Building Manager. "It had done a good job but the cameras used outdated technology and only captured black and white images. We wanted to take advantage of the latest digital technology so that we could maximise the return on our investment in a new CCTV system."
Adrian was appointed Building Manager of Verulam Point in January 2009 and one of his first tasks was to oversee the installation of the new CCTV. "The number and location of the cameras had already been decided by the previous company and collectively they provided for comprehensive coverage of the building and car park," said Adrian. "I decided however to approach Tag Security Solutions for advice on the equipment which had been specified. They recommended that we should source all the component parts of the CCTV system from the professional security division of Samsung Techwin. As a result I am pleased to say that we have not only ended up with a higher quality solution than the equipment originally specified, but received much better value for money as well."
Some 13 Samsung Techwin cameras, a mix of fixed cameras, fixed domes and speed domes, have been installed at Verulam Point which together allow security staff to monitor 24-7. "There has never been a major security issue at Verulam Point but we want to ensure that our tenants’ employees can work in a safe and secure environment," added Adrian. "There is no doubt that the new CCTV system, and in particular the speed dome cameras, act as a powerful deterrent to unwanted visitors and allow our operators to watch staff leaving late at night to ensure their safety."
Control room
An SVR-3200 DVR, with 32 channels, has replaced two digital recorders. Described as a "Control room in a box" the SVR-3200 not only offers a neater solution, it is also fully future proof with space to install extra internal hard disks, not to mention having spare inputs to offer Verulam Point the opportunity to increase the number of cameras without having to buy a new DVR. Images are viewed from the DVR using a bank of four Samsung Techwin STM -19LA 19-inch monitors, which are able to display any number of user-selectable views. The entire system is controlled with a SSC-3100 keyboard,
The SVR-3200 has a built-in DVD writer to provide for easy back-up and has the potential for 4TB of internal storage, rising to 12TB with the optional SVS-5 external hard disk kit.
Three types of Samsung Techwin domes have been deployed. A small and discrete SID-56 has been installed overlooking the escalators at the entrance to the building, whilst vandal resistant SVD-4600s and the latest addition to the Samsung Techwin dome range, the SPD-3750, have been installed at various locations around the building and car park. The SPD-3750 uses the world’s first 37X optical zoom allowing close up detail of far away objects and benefits from the second generation of Samsung Super Noise Reduction (SSNRII) technology for the cameras to deliver clear and sharp images by eliminating high levels of noise in low light conditions without creating ghosting or smearing.
All the Samsung Techwin equipment, supplied by CCTVprotect (www.cctvprotect.co.uk), was installed and commissioned by Tag Security Solutions who are part of the Cosmo Services Group.
"We are very pleased with the images generated from all the cameras and particularly so in night time conditions," said Adrian. "We have, for example, a camera in our plant room and even with the lights out, the camera is able to assist us in verifying any activity."
"I have been impressed with how well the people at Tag Security and Samsung Techwin have worked together to ensure that Verulam Point has a first class CCTV system. Our security personnel are very happy as they find the system very easy to control and the images of superior quality. The next stage for us is to implement Samsung Techwin’s licence-free Central Management System (CMS) software to give us quick and easy remote access to the system." Visit –
