Industrial Estate Security: Who Covers What On A Shared Site

Industrial estates are where a lot of businesses make, store and move their goods, and a secure estate is one tenants want to stay on.

But the same things that make an estate work for you (easy road access, quiet evenings and plenty of yard space) can leave it exposed once the units close for the night.

That’s why industrial security on a shared site needs more thought than it would on most single-operator industrial sites.

Good industrial estate security depends on several people at once to work.

The difficulty is none of them controls the whole estate.

Your landlord, your managing agent and your neighbours each have responsibility for different parts, with no one ever really sure who’s responsible for what when it comes to security.

What Makes Estate Security Different?

Industrial security is about how you protect people, buildings, stock and equipment on industrial sites.

On an estate, you’ll find shared entrances with no single gatehouse, tenants on different hours, unlit car parks and vacant units. The same applies to business park security and any managed industrial park.

The usual risks are:

• Theft of stock, materials and valuable machinery from yards
• Metal and fuel theft, plus vehicle theft outside working hours
• Trespass, vandalism and arson along estate roads
• “Ram raids” on shutters that face open road

Who’s Responsible For Security On A Shared Estate?

On most multi-occupancy industrial estates, the landlord or managing agent looks after the communal areas (estate roads, car parks and shared entrances), which is usually paid for through a service charge on each tenant, while each tenant looks after its own unit.

The RICS professional standard sets out good practice for service charges, but what you pay (and what you’re paying for) depends on your lease.

We’d advise reading your lease’s security clauses and taking advice if anything is unclear.

Because who controls each space also shapes your occupiers’ liability.

Ideally you need one agreed security plan across everyone. Without that, there will always be gaps that show up when people start going off and doing their own thing to protect themselves without considering the estate as a whole.

Estate-Wide Security: What You Share

Some measures cost less and work better when shared across the estate.

Entrances & Estate Roads

Controlling access starts at the estate’s access points.

Where there’s one main entrance, gatehouse security puts officers there to check ID, run health and safety inductions and log HGVs and visitors.

Otherwise, patrols and cameras cover each entrance.

Strong fencing, gates and lighting along an open boundary make unauthorised access slower and harder.

Mobile Patrols Across Every Unit

One patrol for the whole estate costs you less than every unit buying its own.

Mobile patrols visit at random times, and trained security personnel check doors, shutters and yards on every unit, spotting anything from a fire safety issue to flooding. We’d recommend asking for a written record of each visit, because regular patrols are only as useful as their reports.

Monitored CCTV On Shared Areas

Cameras on shared areas need to be more than visible deterrents, so someone has to watch them.

With CCTV monitoring, footage goes to a control room (our National Operations Centre), where AI-assisted detection helps operators spot suspicious activity. Mobile CCTV towers cover remote areas with no power.

Whoever decides how shared cameras are used is usually the data controller, so agree who that is and follow the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance on video surveillance.

One Keyholder & One Alarm Response

With one keyholding and alarm response arrangement, every activation on your estate gets the same response and report. Through keyholding, one set of keyholders keeps every unit’s keys, codes and fobs and attends alarm activations, for a rapid response (our average is 30 minutes).

What Each Tenant Still Needs For Their Own Unit

Site security for your own building, stock and assets is still yours to sort out. This is where you need to start thinking about security inside your unit or office space.

• Intruder alarm systems linked to the estate’s keyholder, ideally ones that alert a monitoring centre if their signal drops
• Reliable access control on doors and loading bays, controlling access to limit theft from inside
• Lock and unlock by an officer licensed by the Security Industry Authority (SIA), so staff don’t have to open up alone
• Yard CCTV if you hold high-value stock or equipment
• Clear procedures for deliveries, keys and visitors, plus emergency procedures

High-value units can add static industrial security guards or canine security, depending on the risk to business continuity.

Protecting Vacant Units On An Estate

One empty unit can lower security for the whole estate.

Because no one’s paying attention, it becomes more at risk of trespass, squatting, metal stripping and fly-tipping.

Empty units also bring insurance requirements.

Insurers often set unoccupancy conditions, like regular inspections and a named keyholder, so know what insurers ask about vacant property before a unit empties.

For vulnerable vacant units, VPOD alarm systems (monitored by our NOC) and inspection visits are usually proportionate. So build vacant property security into your estate plan.

How To Set Up Security Across An Estate

A risk-based approach works best:

1. Run risk assessments of the estate and each unit, covering access points, access control systems, lighting and “blind spots”
2. Agree the split between estate and unit cover, and how costs are recovered
3. Appoint one estate provider, with tenants adding unit cover
4. Share incident and patrol reports with every tenant, since those logs support insurance claims
5. Repeat your risk assessments after any change

Industrial Estate Security Solutions With ProFM Group

A shared estate is best protected once, for everyone, with each tenant adding only what its unit needs.

One partner covering all security layers leaves no gaps between providers.

That’s where ProFM Group work best.

Our NOC runs 24/7/365 with trained, SIA-licensed staff.

We’re an SIA Approved Contractor under the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS), an ACS Pacesetter and NSI Gold accredited, covering sites UK-wide.

You can see some examples of our work and types of deployments we handle in our case studies section.

Contact us or call 0808 281 2722 for a free, no-obligation quote.