New Covent Garden Market is a London icon with a history dating back to medieval days. Now the largest wholesale market in the UK, it has been feeding and flowering London every day for over 40 years. Brand New Covent Garden Market is the next evolution of the market, transforming the site into a 46,500m2 better, modern trading space during a phased build between 2015-2021.
As a place of significance in a highly sought-after central London location, with hundreds of food and flower traders, suppliers and customers operating in the early hours every day, Brand New Covent Garden Market required an access control system that offered more than just granting door access.
Gallagher access control solution
Having successfully used a Gallagher access control solution for over 20 years in New Covent Garden Market, the decision to stay with Gallagher to meet the unique requirements of the new development was simple. New Covent Garden Market has worked with a Gallagher certified channel partner for a number of years, so facilities manager Jo Breare said they trusted their advice when deciding which access control system to go with.
“The Gallagher card reader system has always worked for us,” says Jo. “With the developments in Command Centre, including the ability to customise features such as reporting, and integrating with CCTV and Nedap Transit Readers, we knew we had a system that suited our requirements. There were also fewer problems as we moved to the new site because staff and card users already understood how the system worked, causing minimum disruption.”
Integration between Gallagher’s access control solution and Nedap technology has provided great benefit to the market
Integration with Nedap technology
Integration between Gallagher’s access control solution and Nedap technology has provided great benefit to the market. Each trader pays an annual fee to trade and enter the market. They are then given a tag so when they drive into the car park the market knows who does and doesn’t have access. Parking without a permit is very costly at £200 for 24 hours, so permits are an important part of the traders’ membership.
During renewal time at the end of October each year, Gallagher Command Centre makes it easy to produce a report detailing the permit holders, which is then used as the basis for a mail merge to email renewal notifications to all traders. “Permits are one of the biggest sources of vehicle site management information and control for the market,” said Jo.
He adds, “The renewal period could be a busy and stressful time, but the reporting function in Command Centre makes it quick and simple for all involved.” Groups have been created to allow access to different parking areas. Flower traders and suppliers park in their designated car park, while food traders and suppliers only have access to their designated car park.
Parking lot access control
Several customisations have also been created to support the unique operating environment of the market. Zone counting of underground parking spaces hired to local companies mean if an allocation is full, anyone trying to badge in from that company will not be granted access. A report on vehicle sizes to map car park sizes was also created and although this was not implemented, the data can be captured if needed in future.
Traders contact the New Covent Garden Market Authority to revoke access for former employees and check if they have accessed the car park since leaving. They can also check if anyone is parking out of hours. This information can be easily pulled from Gallagher Command Centre and put into a simple report, saving time and providing value for traders.
FLIR CCTV system
The CCTV footage will be shown in the Command Centre workspace, keeping all security and access control in one place.
When planning Brand New Covent Garden Market, the commercially-savvy organisation designed the New Covent Garden Market Authority’s office area to include office space available for rent. With a Gallagher access control solution in place, tenants will be able to easily enter their offices, manage users and grant parking access, with the peace of mind that their office is safe and secure.
The next stage of the project is to connect Gallagher Command Centre with Flir CCTV, which is a well-established integration. The CCTV footage will be shown in the Command Centre workspace, keeping all security and access control in one easy to manage place.
“The Gallagher system has provided us with everything we need and more,” says Jo. “It sees the most use during renewal times but on a day to day basis the system works happily in the background.”