When the city calls: Balfour Beatty Living Places discusses Citywatch in Highways Magazine
24 February 2023
Brian Hammersley, Contract Director at Balfour Beatty Living Places, has featured in Highways Magazine discussing Citywatch – a 24/7 CCTV monitoring service provided on behalf of Southampton City Council.
In the article, Brian explains how the 14 strong team not only monitor the roads across the City via the operation’s 400 cameras but are tasked with monitoring the vital signs of the city, identifying, and alerting the authorities to incidents ranging from traffic issues and shoplifting to anti-social behaviour and knife crime.
Between January and March last year, the Citywatch team handled 14,774 calls from members of the public and identified 1,436 real-time incidents, of which 286 were proactively spotted.
However, behind these numbers are human stories too, such as the story of Archie Pope, a control room operative, who witnessed a member of public jump from Itchen Bridge in Southampton into the river below. He took immediate action and alerted the emergency services through the police airwaves radio in the Citywatch control room, resulting in the individual rescued and taken to hospital for treatment.
Brian said: “I have worked for Balfour Beatty for 20 years, always in and around the local authority highways environment. I have been in Southampton for eight years now. Citywatch has massively changed the way I see highways.
“I don’t run a highways service anymore, as I see it. We can keep the roads moving and people safe, and we can drive down crime rates and support the football club and universities, you put all of that together and it is a proper partnership with a great customer, delivering a fantastic service. It is about a holistic offering to Southampton.”
To read the article in full, please click here.
ENDS
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Notes to editors:
- Balfour Beatty is a leading international infrastructure group with over 24,500 employees driving the delivery of powerful new solutions, shaping thinking, creating skylines and inspiring a new generation of talent to be the change-makers of tomorrow.
- We finance, develop, build, maintain and operate the increasingly complex and critical infrastructure that supports national economies and deliver projects at the heart of local communities.
- Over the last 114 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world. Currently, we are working to deliver Hinkley Point C, the first UK nuclear power station in a generation; constructing the world-class arts and cultural facility, the Lyric Theatre, in Hong Kong; and designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining the Automated People Mover superstructure at the fifth busiest airport in the world, Los Angeles International Airport.
- Balfour Beatty Living Places works in long-term partnerships with local authorities to create great places to live, work and play. We actively engage with local people to understand the needs of the communities we work in and shape the places where local economies can thrive and grow.
- As a leader in sustainable working, diversity and social value, we use our expertise to bring real, positive change for our customers. We leave a legacy of connected communities with strong local economies that really work for local people with clean, safe and prosperous streets and social spaces.