CCTV in Hull has proven to be a powerful force in combating crime and with Police statistics recording a significant reduction in crime levels

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City wide CCTV Surveillance

System The Kingston upon Hull City-wide CCTV system is regarded as one of the largest in the UK and consists of over 450

cameras, deployed in and around the city of Hull, complex network connections and extensive Control Room and

Emergency Planning Suite. Atkins have played a fundamental part in designing the overall system and supporting the

scheme implementation and subsequent development to meet new requirements

The Business Challenge

In 2002 the Hull Community Safety

Partnership was successful in its bid to

secure additional funding from the

Home Office to allow the development

of the original scheme. The £5 million

funding grant was transferred to the

City Council to expand the city centre

CCTV scheme.

A major consultation exercise was

undertaken, involving Residents, City

Safe and other Community groups,

Police and City Council members

identified various locations (including

main streets, community centres,

residential areas and shopping centres)

that would benefit from CCTV.

This resulted in 400 camera locations

being identified. Each of these was re-

examined looking in detail at the

operational requirements, current levels

and types of crime, crime prevention

strategies. Planned CCTV coverage by

other agencies was also taken into

consideration.

The Atkins Solution

Atkins provided a detailed, costed

schedule of camera positions and

camera coverage drawings for each

location. This was to allow the number

of cameras to be reduced to meet the

Clients budget, while still optimising the

effectiveness of the CCTV system.

Atkins main role as Consultant for the

project was to work as a close partner

to the Council acting as their Engineer

for the project, to provide the technical

expertise needed for the system design

and to undertake project management

of the contract for the duration of the

installation.

Atkins worked very closely with all the

parties involved to ensure that the

demanding requirements were

developed into a comprehensive and

advanced technical specification.

The system, in the main, consists of

permanent camera installations using

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optical fibre technology and broadband

microwave as a means of transferring

broadcast quality colour images to the

control room.

The project had to include the use of

the City’s own data and video

transmission network provided by

Kingston Communications to support

the needs of the CCTV scheme.

There are however certain areas of the

City that were not adequately served by

the current number of CCTV cameras.

So the design solution included use of

single and multi-channel point to point

microwave links operating in the 31GHz

and 58 GHz bands. This allows some

cameras to be relocated as crime

patterns change.

Video recording is provided by an

extensive server based Digital

Recording system. This records all

camera images for a period of 31 days

and provides a rapid and convenient

method of access to recorded media

with the ability to down-load recordings

to DVD or SVHS tape for Police or

Court use. Redundancy and rapid

removal of video in the event of a major

incident are designed into the video

storage system with a number of

innovative solutions.

Control Room and Emergency

Planning Suite

The Control Room within Festival

House is built on two levels. The lower

floor is set aside as the Council’s

Emergency Planning Centre and

management offices, with the upper

floor as the CCTV Control Room. This

‘state of the art’ BS5979 Category

1Control Room accommodates 8

operator control desks with two

supervisor positions on an elevated rear

platform.

An extensive air-conditioned equipment

space has been created behind the

video monitor wall, making best use of

available space and also creating a

work area for technicians without

disrupting the day to day routine of the

CCTV operators.

Emergency power supply systems have

been designed with future expansion in

mind and can support a range of

possible future expansion plans without

the need for further refurbishment.

The system has been extended to

cover Park and Ride areas and a

number of key commercial buildings

within the City to provide a integrated

surveillance system.

Outcome and Key Benefits

CCTV in Hull has proven to be a

powerful force in combating crime and

with Police statistics recording a

significant reduction in crime levels the

scheme is subject to continuous growth

with new areas surrounding the centre

now being covered.

The system has become a key tool for

the Police who have extended their

video connections into the control room

to allow greater use of live video and

have a permanent liaison officer now

based in the control room.

Services Provided

• Specialist technical consultancy

• Strategic planning

• System design

• Contractor selection

• Project management

• System development

• System testing and commissioning

• Planning Supervisor

Project Components

• New control room facility to

BS5979 Cat 1. for 8 operators and

Emergency Planning Centre

• Integrated server based RAID

backed Digital Video Recording

system

• 450 Permanently sited and

transportable cameras covering,

• Wide area video and data

transmission

• CCTV Management system

• Automatic Number Plate

Recognition

• Documentation and Drawings

• Staff Training