CHIEF DUBS G8 SUMMIT ‘MOST SECURE EVER’

The G8 Summit in Enniskillen of the world’s most powerful politicians involved 4,700 Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers and 3,600 from other UK forces in a security operation that cost about £60m.

The PSNI wanted the securest G8 ever at a time of ‘severe terrorist threat’ and hoped that its reputation for dealing with public disorder plus unprecedented physical, cyber, technical and logistical protection would keep many potential protesters away.

The Solution

PSNI approached Zaun to design, manufacture, project manage and install an ‘impregnable cordon’ around the world leaders to guarantee their security throughout the summit at Lough Erne.

The rectangular site was protected on its long northeastern boundary by the Lough Erne lake. After extensive testing, Zaun designed its single largest ever temporary installation using two of its premier high-security fencing systems for the other three sides.

It installed its 3.6m high SecureGuard PAS68 temporary security fencing along the 5.7km road to the southwest of the site, which runs broadly parallel with the lough. In addition, Zaun integrated rising arm barriers and 10 PAS68 gates for secure access control along the fence line.

It also put in 1.7km of its award-winning Rapid Deployable System (RDS) at each end, creating a secure perimeter from the road to the edge of and into the lake.

RDS

Zaun had to make several adaptations to its multi-award-winning RDS that was first used for four political conferences on the mainland in 2012 and bought by The Home Office to add to the National Barrier Asset.

In addition to the cable system on the front of the fence line gives the system it's PAS68 rating of 30mph (PAS 68:2010 V/7500(N2)/48/90:11.6/0.0), Zaun incorporated further enhancements to prevent mob attack on the run-up to the summit. Both RDS and SecureGuard were extensively tested by PSNI and the Home Office against mob attacks. These tests will now form the basis of a new standard adopted by the Home Office when testing systems.

Zaun also created specially designed posts to carry additional one-tonne weights to prevent movement on the 30-metre section of RDS fencing that actually tracked into the lake itself to discourage protesters from breaching the perimeter via the water.

RDS was used on remoter areas around the edge of forest land, dirt tracks and grassy knolls with undulating ground, and boggy land at the airport to provide Airforce One and other presidential jet landings.