Secure environments call for a safe pair of hands

Last year Ian Williams won a second three year contract with Broadmoor and undertaken a series of projects at HM Prison Dartmoor

As one of the UK's leading property service specialists, Ian Williams takes pride in being able to deliver the very highest standard of service even in the most difficult and challenging environments.

Naturally every project presents its own unique challenges but, with sixty years' experience to draw upon, Ian Williams has acquired expertise across a comprehensive range of sensitive environments.

These include schools, hospitals and housing associations where we have worked alongside young children, the elderly, ethnic minorities and the disabled.

Few environments, however, can be more difficult or challenging than prisons and secure psychiatric units.

No-one actually wants to be inside a prison or secure unit - indeed many older institutions were designed and built to impress this very point upon their occupants.

However, the oppressive architecture and atmosphere are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the difficulties encountered by companies working within their walls.

Over recent years, Ian Williams has been involved in two such projects.

The first of these was at the maximum security psychiatric hospital, Broadmoor, home to some of Britain's most dangerous criminals including the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe.

Based on the company's successful performance during its initial three year agreement, last year Ian Williams won a second three year contract with the hospital.

Ian Williams has also undertaken a series of projects at HM Prison Dartmoor and is currently part way through a 13 week project that will include the refurbishment of the shower blocks, a kitchen, and replacing the doors and windows of some cells.

So what specific problems do secure environments present contractors? The first and foremost difficulty is obviously one of access.

The strict security procedures which must be observed when entering, exiting or moving around the site drastically restrict the movement of personnel.

Consequently things which one might take for granted on other sites, become impossible within a secure environment.

Kevin Slade, one of Ian Williams' managers at Broadmoor, explains: "It can take over an hour just to get inside the hospital each morning and upwards of half an hour to leave at the end of the working day".

"These restrictions can cut the working day down to as little as six hours".

"Moreover, every worker has a guard who has to remain with them at all times so they are totally under the guard's control".

Similar restrictions apply to equipment.

Every item that comes on to the site, or leaves it, must be strictly accounted for and unannounced spot checks by security staff are an inconvenient but unavoidable fact of life.

Mike Anning, one of Ian Williams managers at HMP Dartmoor, describes the impact this had on his six man team working inside the prison: "Each operative has a list of tools that they are responsible for".

"When they are not in use, ladders have to be chained up and tools locked away to ensure they can't get into the wrong hands".

"It can be very restrictive but, of course, it comes with the territory".

"It's something you have to work around".

Inconvenient as the security measures may be, one can never afford to underestimate the very real dangers of working in this type of environment.

In 2004, while working on secure environment contract partnerships in Swansea and Cardiff prisons, Ian Williams Manager Ken Jones, was caught up in a small riot".

""It was a frightening experience".

"An argument broke out between prisoners and soon escalated out of control".

"We ended up being locked in for hours".

"The whole process of working in a secure environment can prove time consuming and disruptive".

"Having to be searched twice a day, and with spot checks to deal with on top of this, mean that without careful management a project can quickly fall behind schedule".

"Some of the work we completed had to be done at night because the areas were not secure enough for us to work on during the day".

In addition to the security implications surrounding access to the site and getting the job done, there are also security considerations concerning the nature of the work itself as Mike Anning describes: "Not only is the working environment very restrictive, the work itself has to be carried out to a higher specification than normal to prevent inmates pulling apart insecure fixtures and potentially using them as a weapon".

"We are proud that Ian Williams was given the contract at HMP Dartmoor as it reinforces our belief that we provide the highest quality service" Ian Williams believes that the experience it has gained on projects within secure environments will prove valuable in winning future business for the company - particularly in relation to Strategic Service Partnerships.

An essential element of the so called Egan Principles is a willingness for supply partners to both appreciate and accommodate their clients' individual needs.

These principles identified by Sir John Egan provide the foundations for successful partnering agreements.

Working within secure environments, represents the ultimate test for suppliers in this respect.

At every level it challenges the suppliers' ability to work with their clients to identify and meet the client's needs.

Not surprisingly, as Ian Williams prepares to embark on extended contracts at both HMP Dartmoor and Broadmoor, staff feel extremely proud of their success in this field.

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