With both a 40,000 seated football stadium and a remote state of the art training facility, Leeds United Football Club (LUFC) is the largest sports venue in Yorkshire.
The challenge
Leeds United had used various contractors over the years to provide safety and security at both locations, and were looking for a ‘one stop shop’ for all of their security needs. Not only did LUFC need to look after day-to-day security at both venues, they also had to ensure the safety of spectators attending the stadium on match days. We won the contract in 2010, and immediately started consolidating existing systems to ensure their needs were met.
- Their needs were varied and consisted of:
- CCTV with remote monitoring of both sites back to their security office
- Intruder alarms with remote monitoring of both sites back to their security office
- An access control system with over 100 doors and barriers across both sites
- Operation of a match day control room
- An exit gate system to ensure safe egress from the stadium on match days
The solution
We won the contract in 2010, and immediately started consolidating existing systems to ensure the needs of LUFC were met.
We introduced new controls on the existing CCTV, intruder alarm and access control systems to simplify their function and user friendliness. Our Group Operations Manager became the client security manager, attending regular meetings and suggesting innovative ways to consolidate and improve the systems within tight budgets.
The partnership has gone from strength to strength and, over the last five years, we have extended and modified the systems to include:
- Total refurbishment of the match day control room
- Replacement of the analogue CCTV system with an IP hybrid CCTV system
- The integration of full-time LUFC manned guarding sta into G&K, via TUPE
- Provision of stewarding and security on match days
- Writing the Standard Operating Procedure for the CCTV system and training of all sta on system use
The future
By taking time to understand the long-term requirements at the club, we have future-proofed their security systems and solutions to ensure that they continue to provide a robust service for the foreseeable future. We are continually looking at innovative ways of streamlining the security operation for LUFC whilst keeping the safety of match day spectators a priority.