FCDO Services »What we offer »Creating secure environments

Creating secure environments

We work on projects where security is crucial. We consider the security of everything we do – from our staff to our products and logistics – so that you can be confident your people and assets are safe.

Our in-house team of highly skilled specialists install and build all our products and services to the highest standards. They make sure the work happens as smoothly as possible, wherever in the world you’re based.

The team has extensive experience and expertise across mechanical, electrical, construction and technical services. Each team member is security cleared and can work in highly sensitive and hostile environments. They also take part in regular continuing professional development to keep their skills and knowledge at the cutting edge.

Our organisation is built around keeping people and assets safe for government, so we consider security at every level of our work. We have close links with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA). The third of these National Technical Authorities, UK NACE, is part of FCDO Services.

We also have a logistics service that transports materials around the globe securely. Our logistics officers are based overseas, and can verify kit when it arrives on-site.

We install our products to our high internal standards, meeting British standards for electrical work. We can also work to your standards, so that any designs or installations are consistent with your organisation’s requirements.

Project management

We make sure your construction, security and IT projects are completed to the highest standards, on time and within budget.

Our professional experts effectively deal with a range of requirements, locations and sizes. Our project managers are embedded within our professional services teams, allowing them to develop pragmatic solutions.

Learn more about project management

Cost management

Our whole-lifecycle service manages the costs of your project effectively. We have extensive experience in government procurement and delivering construction projects of all sizes worldwide.

Our highly qualified team can deal with all types of procurement and contracts. We’ll help you get the best value – from project kick off, through tender and procurement, to contract administration.

Learn more about cost management

What do you need?

Design development

We’ll provide different outline designs, and once you’ve selected your preferred option we assemble a project team. The team includes a dedicated project manager and specialist design team. It may also include engineers, architects, surveyors and interior designers, as well as other specialists.

This team will develop the design following the RIBA plan of work. Usually, at every stage of the design process the client will approve and sign off the work before we progress on to the next stage.

At the end of the process, we put together a design pack to include in the tender documents. A quantity surveyor also often prepares a pre-tender estimate. This sets out how much they expect the contractor’s price to be – useful for assessing value for money.

Broad range of expertise

All our specialists work closely together before, during and after the design development process. We have experienced structural, mechanical and electrical engineers who work with architects and interior designers to ensure nothing is missed.


Constructing

Our teams support construction projects at every point. Construction work will be carried out by our specialist staff or trusted contractors, depending on the project. If contractors are needed, we’ll help you procure effective and value-for-money suppliers and oversee the work to completion. If you need to develop requirements or a design, we’ll work with you to make sure you get the right solution.

Strengthening work

There are several ways to strengthen your property to protect your people and assets from hostile attacks. We recommend and implement these based on our knowledge of the types of threats your property is likely to face.

These methods can include:

  • strengthening walls, windows and doors
  • installing safe rooms
  • incorporating ‘gatehouses’ and redesigning entry points
  • redistributing people and assets within the property

Procurement and tendering

In parallel with the design work, the project manager, quantity surveyor and other members of the design team will prepare the tender pack. The pack includes:

  • construction contract documents
  • health and safety construction, design and management (CDM) documents

Once these documents are complete, we will manage the tender process. This includes:

  • sending the tender pack to a number of bidding contractors
  • arranging visits to site for contractors
  • answering technical questions from contractors
  • assessing submissions

We’ll make a recommendation to you based on the submissions. Using all of this information, you can then appoint a contractor to complete the work.

Construction

The project manager and design team will oversee the work to ensure the project is constructed or installed in accordance with the specification and to the required quality.

We also have a number of clerks of works in the team. If required, they can be based on site to supervise the works on a day-to-day basis throughout the project.

Once the work is completed and signed off by the team, the project manager will manage the handover to the client or end user. They will also make sure all the actions are completed to close the construction contract.


Intruder detection and public address systems

We work with you on all stages of installing a security system:

  • creating or agreeing operational requirements
  • design
  • specifying and providing security system products
  • installation and commission

We always work to your requirements, but if you’re not sure what you need we can help. Once we know your requirements, we survey the areas needing the work and design a solution.

We design solutions to give you proper coverage of the property, and which take into account the use and location of the property. Our designs go right down to the ‘nuts and bolts’, so that the installers know exactly what’s needed.

Our designs fit your needs – this means our designs will fit your budget. We discuss any potential compromises with you, so that you can understand the impact of certain choices.

Products

We integrate off-the-shelf products so that our systems are unique, and cannot be bought elsewhere. This means our systems can withstand harsh environments and deter technical attacks.
We continually review and adapt our products based on our knowledge of security threats, to give you a high level of confidence in the security of our systems.

We also install and test data cabling to high industry standards to ensure that your systems are safe. We can do this with our other products or separately.

Installation

Our in-house installation team are all security cleared and experienced in working in secure government environments. They can review and interpret complex designs to make sure they are feasible, and install security systems globally, including in hostile environments.

Once installation is complete, we provide a report detailing the work we’ve done so that you know exactly what’s in place.

Find out more

To discuss how we can help your organisation, talk to one of our experts.

Contact us