CASE STUDY
Headquarters in high-risk locations

'Designing-in' security is the best way to mitigate risk when building a new corporate site. Blue Sky's PRETECT programme enabled a Middle-East based organisation to do just that.

Building a new regional headquarters in Dubai, UAE, a major international organisation* asked Blue Sky to take on the task of auditing the new site's security, devising the security strategy and specifying solutions appropriate to the region's geo-political environment.

The security strategy needed to be delivered in stages to provide the client with visibility of where the costs lay and total control of the project.

PRETECT the environment

Blue Sky offered its PRETECT programme, a comprehensive package for designing and building 'anticipative security environments', delivered in partnership with the infrastructure specialists Vectra Group.

First of all, a detailed audit was conducted to ascertain the precise degree of security provision for the building. Blue Sky's team worked with the client's senior management in security briefings and workshops, to clarify how the strategy would be delivered from the top.

With the strategy and implementation plan agreed, the audit findings were then analysed against a matrix of potential threats, to highlight specific areas of vulnerability.

Technical phase

With the audit complete, strategy agreed and threat/vulnerability matrix in place, the project entered the technical phase.

The Blue Sky/Vectra technical team worked on a gap analysis to produce a detailed set of requirements. Full equipment specifications were drawn up to enable the client to put the work out to tender. The tender process was supported at every stage by Blue Sky's experienced Technical Assessors, allowing the client to deliver 'smart procurement' of the correct systems, and have them installed and certified with full accountability.

On completion, the finished site was again reviewed, and a full set of procedures and protocols developed. These ensured that the design-in and built-in systems were fully supported.

The final stage was to ensure that the client had a comprehensive Crisis Management Strategy in place, with a detailed set of incident plans and contingencies, and that all staff had been properly trained to use the systems and procedures effectively.