Construction at the new Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek began in September 2018, with award of the massive earthmoving contract to CPB Contractors and Acciona in a Joint Venture. The new Airport is due to open by 2026 at a cost of $8 billion.
The massive scale of this project, moving 25 million cubic metres of soil and rock covering 4200 acres (approximately twice the size of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport) created major site security challenges for Joint Venture management. Of particular concern was potential vandalism and damage to widely scattered earthmoving equipment and critical infrastructure that could potentially cause unacceptable performance delays.
Original site protection thinking revolved around ‘traditional security’ employing multiple onsite roving security guards for 12 hours each night plus weekends. A tender was called to supply a team of onsite guards, however RFT bidders were also encouraged to offer non-complying alternatives to take advantage of any new protection technologies.
‘We wanted to minimise the number of onsite guards needed without compromising security’ said General Superintendent Paul Bull, ‘and Paul-Tec’s alternative RealGuard proposal made that outcome possible for us.’
Instead of multiple guards continually circumnavigating the 4200 acre site, JV management chose the recommended option to employ just 1 x onsite mobile security guard, plus deploy solar powered RealGuard Live Video Guarding Towers at critical infrastructure locations throughout the site. These camera towers record 24×7, and at weeknights and weekends when the site closes, any movement detected near these protected critical areas immediately triggers live video back to the RealGuard’s own Remote Video Monitoring Centre.
Live Video Guarding towers are easily relocated/added/removed as required to protect any newly identified ‘at risk’ areas throughout the evolving project term.
RealGuard operators immediately ‘warn off’ identified intruders or trespassers over the PA speakers while simultanously notifying the onsite mobile guard to respond to the event. Police are also called to any identified criminal incidents in progress. This unique and proactive ‘end to end’ security solution eliminates the need for multiple onsite guards, while providing immediate response by warning off detected intruders before they have opportunity to cause damage or mischief…. ‘stopping crime before it happens.’
In addition to protecting the mobile plant and critical infrastructure scattered throughout the site, JV management also needed to secure its prefabricated administration building for duration of the earthmoving contract.
The solution adopted was installation of a separate alarm/CCTV system rented at a fixed cost including RealGuard Remote Video Monitoring for the duration of the project.
‘We are pleased with the combined RealGuard technology/manpower security solution provided by Paul-Tec’ said Mr Bull.’
Overt RealGuard Live Video Guarding Towers and warning signage has proven to be an excellent deterrent at Badgerys Creek during the extended earthmoving phase, with no major security incidents being experienced at the time of writing and overall project financial savings compared with the cost of multiple onsite roving security guards is estimated to be well in excess of six figures.
