Rochdale Metropolitan Council

Rochdale chooses protection over demolition

Rochdale Metropolitan Council

Background

The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Rochdale, but spans a far larger area which includes the towns of Middleton, Heywood, Littleborough and Milnrow, and the village of Wardle. The borough, which lies directly north-northeast of the City of Manchester, has a population of 206,500.

Challenge

To provide a resilient solution, following a mixed result from a combination of protection solutions tried out ranging from traditional metal sheeting and boarding up of properties to remote alarms and once daily mobile patrols. These practices met with a limited measure of success and in certain cases ended in chronic failure, with repeat break-ins and thefts and vandalism that in extreme cases required demolition of the plagued properties, with the total loss of the asset to the council.

Solution

A regime of regular inspections combined with specially selected Ad Hoc Guardians provided a robust and reliable solution to security and protection of the fabric of properties.

“Since the installation of Guardians provided by Ad Hoc Property Management, we have had all the properties protected by Guardians returned to us in a complete and un-damaged condition. Before supplying Guardians, Ad Hoc fully risk assess all proposed premises along with ourselves and the Fire service. The service we receive from Ad Hoc then provides us with vetted, single, employed Guardians. Ad Hoc give Guardians an on-site health & safety induction and provide appropriate safety equipment where necessary. Once installed, we receive a monthly report on each occupied property from Ad Hoc who carry out impromptu inspections.

“The properties we have had guarded include schools, training facilities, offices, a cottage and a park house. Several of the Guardians we have used have moved from property to property as we have sold them off, but we endeavour to only embark on the Guardian route where we can guarantee our Guardians a reasonable period of residency and we seem to have been rewarded by reliable Guardians who seem willing to be flexible, reliable and loyal.

“Our experience of ad Hoc and the service they provide is positive and on-going”

Nigel MacDonald, Senior Valuer, Rochdale MBC

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