Technical furniture manufacturer Thinking Space Systems, have improved the working environment of CCTV operators at Harrogate Borough Council with custom designed control room furniture. The public space CCTV Control room project, completed last autumn, was part of a major upgrade of the control room, which serves the residents of Harrogate, Ripon, Knaresborough and Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire.
Julia Stack, Community Safety & CCTV Manager at Harrogate Borough Council explained the background to the project: “Providing a 24 hour CCTV service, the CCTV control room is operated by Harrogate Borough Council and is responsible for not only monitoring and recording images from its 184 cameras, but also directing the Radiolink network between police and members of the business community to deal with incidents of crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour.”
“Harrogate Borough Council not only looked to digitalise the image management infrastructure by updating its Fusion software, but sought a whole new, modern look to its CCTV control room that reflected the significant investment being made” Julia added.
Working alongside Baydale Systems, Thinking Space designed and installed a large three person bespoke control room console, which curves to match the shape of the existing curved timber monitor wall (modified by others). The design of the control room console was oversized to provide maximum desk working space, a key requirement of the control room staff, and forms the centrepiece of the control room.
Another key aspect of the project was Thinking Space’s ability to match the console cladding to the timber of the monitor wall, adding a modern blue worktop finish to complete the look. Other aesthetic touches have been added in the form of a bespoke walkover conduit to link the console to the electrical equipment room.
“An important part of achieving the look we wanted, combined with greatly increased work space for our CCTV operators, was the selection of the right console that correctly followed the contours of the virtual monitor wall, correctly positioned the workstations to afford our staff the optimum overview of images and provided a much improved working environment” explained Julia.
“Thinking Space delivered everything that we wanted in their design and installation of our new CCTV control room console. Their representative, Jason, was careful to ensure that aspects of its design, such as sight lines and ergonomics were considered and he worked with our technical installers to ensure the finished result met the high standard we demanded, at a price that matched our available budget.”
