The UK electronic security and
access control market has exhibited modest growth, with intensifying
price competition and cheaper imports eroding value growth even as
demand remains relatively consistent. Growth levels seem to have
stabilised at around 2 to 3% per annum, reflecting also the maturity
of some product categories – in particular intruder alarms - with
high levels of penetration also limiting any meaningful growth.
The UK security industry in general is
technologically advanced, with specific strengths in terms of
systems integration as well as risk assessment and analysis. There
are estimated to be over 4,500 companies involved in the design,
manufacture, supply and/or installation of electronic security
products and access control equipment.
The market is evolving, moving towards a more
“technologically dense” product sector, with the emphasis on
integration and networking into ever more sophisticated and
increasingly comprehensive building automation systems. Some believe
that the industry has reached a stage where technology is developing
faster than skills, intensifying the demand for properly skilled and
trained installers and higher levels of technological “know-how”
within the industry in general.
The emphasis has also now shifted towards more
diligent observation and prevention of crime – which places more
demands on monitoring and access control rather than simply raising
the alarm and following up once the danger has, in effect, passed.
Demand continues to be driven by concerns regarding
criminal activity (both real and perceived) as well as the now
ever-present threat of terrorist activities. Government spending,
particularly in the healthcare and education sectors but also in
transport and infrastructure, the critical need for investment in
prison facilities as well as accelerating preparations for the
London Olympics in 2012 are all significant drivers of both future
and current sales.
Intruder Alarms,
the most mature sector within the electronic security market, has
shown little growth during the past five years, however CCTV
and Access Control products have been comparatively buoyant.
While CCTV sales have suffered the effects of increasing price
competition as well as the completion of several major city-centre
schemes that boosted sales during the late 1990’s and early part of
the Millennium, the current trend of substituting manned security
with CCTV systems in the public, industrial and commercial sectors
has contributed to growth. Anti-social behaviour and the increasing
incidence of armed theft and violence are also driving sales.
The need to control and monitor access to workplaces,
sporting venues, and other public and corporate facilities continues
to fuel the need for access control products and systems, and
demand is also growing for fully integrated security systems as well
as systems which may be incorporated into comprehensive home
automation systems. Insurance requirements specifying the
installation of access control equipment, more stringent health and
safety obligations on employers, as well as ongoing advances in
technology have also contributed to overall growth.
The huge improvement in IT and telecommunications
infrastructure, including networking technologies, and the evolution
of landlines to ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and GPRS
(General Packet Radio Service), have also significantly increased
the potential for integration of access control with other
electronic security products such as CCTV systems and intruder
alarms
The demand for skilled and trained installers
continues to grow. The BSIA (British Security Industry
Association), SITO (Security Industry Training Organisation),
Jobcentre Plus and the SIA (Security Industry
Authority) has undertaken a number of initiatives aimed at promoting
employment in the security industry including the launch, in January
2006, of Skills for Security, a new skills body for the
private security sector, incorporating the former SITO, and tasked
with “addressing the future skills needs of the private security
sector”.
Electronic security products are usually supplied via
specialist distributors and installers, with a very small
proportion of sales supplied direct to end-users. Manufacturers and
importers are required to develop and maintain close links with
their skilled installers, in order to ensure that the required
standards are met, and also keep them abreast of new products and
other market developments. The number of suppliers has grown,
attracted by the growth within specific sectors such as CCTV, which
is expected to expand further with the acceleration of preparations
for the 2012 Olympics.
The supply sector remains fragmented, in spite
of a relatively high level of mergers and acquisitions, some of the
most recent of which include the acquisition of Hoffman Security
plc and Oakley Systems by MR Security (November
2006), the acquisition of Gardiner Security by ADI
(April 2006), Siemens Building Technologies’ acquisition of
Bewator in November 2005 and the acquisition of Texecom
Ltd by the Halma Group in January 2006.
While the Intruder Alarm sector is somewhat less
fragmented than the Access Control and CCTV sectors, in terms of the
overall electronic security market, it is thought that no one
supplier has more than a 10% share.
Top UK manufacturers include ADT, Chubb,
Stanley Security and G4Tec,
Bell,
Initial,
Stanley,
Bewator (now part of Siemens), Honeywell and
Siemens.
