Current project

Replacing analogue CCTV across three London campuses

Name: MerFen Security
Address: Unit L2, Gaywood Farm, Hole Lane, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6SL, GB
Telephone: +441732926352

Legacy analogue cameras replaced with a centrally managed IP system across Hammersmith, Ealing Green and Southall.

The brief

What West London College needed

Ageing analogue equipment across three campuses, with little legacy documentation of camera positions or cable routes.
A live college estate, so the work had to fit around teaching with minimal disruption.
The college needed the upgrade to support Cyber Essentials compliance and future network segmentation.
An existing Paxton Net2 access control system the college wanted to keep.

The approach

Legacy analogue cameras replaced with a centrally managed IP system across Hammersmith, Ealing Green and Southall.

01
Survey first, design second

Joint surveys at each campus with the security and facilities teams established what was actually there: camera positions, coverage gaps, cable routes and the constraints nobody had written down.
02
Keep what still works

23 existing cameras were modern enough to work with the new analytics, so they stay in the system. 80 new IP cameras cover the rest, with software licensed to 150 channels so the college can expand into areas with no coverage today.
03
One platform, three campuses

HikCentral Professional manages all three sites from the Hammersmith control room, with full management at Ealing Green and Southall and local screens showing campus-specific cameras.
04
Faster investigations

Hikvision's AcuSeek lets operators search recorded footage in plain language for a person, vehicle, colour or activity, instead of scrubbing through hours of video. ANPR and person tracking are included.
05
Built to pass an IT review

Segregated VLANs where the college provides them, no direct internet access from cameras or servers, encrypted site-to-site VPNs, hardened devices with default credentials removed, TLS and full audit logging, in line with NCSC Secure by Design principles.
06
Keeping the Paxton investment

HikCentral integrates with the existing Paxton Net2 system, so an access event can bring up the camera covering that door and link door activity to footage.

The result

One centrally managed platform across all three campuses, replacing ageing analogue infrastructure.
Faster incident investigation through plain-language footage search.
A system that supports the college’s Cyber Essentials work and future network segmentation.
Licensed for 150 channels against 103 positions today, so there is room to grow.
Three-year maintenance with proactive monitoring and a four-hour response target on a critical outage.