Security case study
From 2015 to 2018 Ashridge Group secured onshore works for Galloper Offshore Wind Farm near Leiston, Suffolk. We guarded the onshore substation build for Alstom Grid, and from May 2017 to March 2018 put 20 officers and four security dogs on the export cable landfall for VBMS.
Galloper Offshore Wind Farm, off the Suffolk coast, has been fully operational since 2018 and generates green energy for almost 400,000 UK households. During construction, two pieces of onshore work near Leiston needed security.
The onshore substation. Alstom Grid (now GE Grid Solutions), working with RWE, needed high-value cables and machinery protected while the substation was built. It also needed access control on the only way in: a single-track road that let one vehicle in or out at a time.
The export cable landfall. VBMS was installing the 45 km export cables that bring the wind farm’s power ashore. Its plant sat on a beach used by the public, so it needed guarding round the clock, and members of the public needed to be kept safely away from the works.
We were brought onto the substation by a site-security technology partner we had worked with on earlier projects. VBMS saw our officers at the substation and asked us to take on its project too.
Substation guarding, 2015 to 2018. A core team of three security officers covered working hours, protecting the cables and machinery and running checkpoints on the route from the main road into the site. At the checkpoints they controlled access and carried out health and safety compliance checks on everyone entering, reporting any non-conformance to the site manager. Every officer was SIA-licensed and screened to BS 7858.
Welfare cabins and radios. Alstom Grid also asked us to supply the welfare cabins, welfare equipment and radios. We sourced fully fitted cabins and a consignment of radios through our suppliers, so the site team and our officers could stay in contact.
Landfall security, May 2017 to March 2018. For VBMS we supplied 20 security officers on a round-the-clock rota, guarding plant on the beach by day and the site office at night. Four general-purpose security dogs and their handlers added cover out of hours. The dogs met BS 8517-1:2016.
Safety ambassadors on the beach. The landfall officers had a second, public-facing role: explaining the project and giving safety guidance to people using the beach, politely and in all weathers, often with very little shelter.
Local intelligence. Throughout the project our officers liaised with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the Security Management Centre at Sizewell B, sharing local security intelligence.
Visitors noticed. After a site visit in March 2016, RWE’s onshore site manager passed on that everyone who attended remarked on how well the site was presented and managed. He singled out two of our officers, Luke and Les.
Snow and snakes. The substation site sat next to a conservation area with snakes and other wildlife. Officers reported every sighting to site management so the environmental response team could act, and anti-venom auto-injectors were kept on site. No officer was bitten. When a severe snowstorm cut the site off, our team stayed on site for several days. We had been watching the forecast and the welfare cabins were equipped for it, so the site stayed guarded while nobody could get in or out.
Both contracts delivered. We covered the substation from 2015 until 2018, the year the wind farm became fully operational, and the landfall from May 2017 to March 2018.
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I wanted to pass on the comments made by visitors to the site this morning. Everyone who briefly attended plus the two who walked around the site remarked on how well it was presented and managed. There was praise for Luke and Les as being “the most polite security guards ever met”.
On Galloper they did. Our officers liaised with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the Security Management Centre at Sizewell B throughout the project, sharing local security intelligence. Near other sensitive infrastructure, that link is part of the job, not an extra.
When a site is large, open or hard to see across at night. On the Galloper export cable landfall, four general-purpose security dogs and their handlers covered the beach works out of hours, alongside 20 officers on a round-the-clock rota. The dogs met BS 8517-1:2016.
The site still needs guarding, so the team has to be ready to stay. When a severe snowstorm cut off the Galloper substation site, our officers remained on site for several days. We had been watching the forecast, and the welfare cabins we supplied were equipped for it.
Reviewed by Emma Walker, Group Managing Director. Published .
Ashridge Group is SIA ACS approved and holds ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 accreditation. See all our accreditations
The service
This engagement was delivered by our security team. Read how the service works, what it covers and how it is staffed on our construction site security page.
Further reading
Working out whether this fits your own site? Our guide to the construction site security compliance checklist covers the numbers and the standards in more detail.
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