CCTV for Catalyst Housing: short term problem solving on the move

Catalyst Housing Ltd. is one of the leading London Housing associations providing more than 21,000 homes in London and the South East and its roots go back more than 80 years to the 1920’s Kensington Housing Trust. It provides diverse affordable accommodation and community development initiatives for families in and around the London area.

Not surprisingly Catalyst’s security needs are equally diverse. Anti-social behaviour monitoring is one of the most important aspects in addition to standard site security. Many of their anti-social behaviour problems are short term, such as evidence gathering for a specific case, for as little as a month.

In these circumstances permanent installations would result in redundant equipment which is wasteful and costly.

To meet short term monitoring requirements Verdant Technologies have installed re-locatable cameras which can be easily de-commissioned and moved to a new address as requirements change. Recording is also built into the camera itself onto hidden removable “SD cards”. Incident viewing can then be carried out back at the office away from the observation site or on the privacy of the neighbourhood manager’s personal laptop. The on board recording also minimises cabling and equipment infra-structure making the camera quick to re-deploy.

Catalyst and other of our housing association customers have a number of these cameras which they can now re-locate cost effectively to other sites when needed.

“Verdant’s relocatable cameras have been a valuable tool on many occasions helping to gather evidence against anti-social behaviour typically in flats and communal passageways”. Says Eugene Brown, Residential Services Operations Manager at Catalyst Housing Ltd.