Westside Shopping Centre Bern

The incredible size of the project and the huge variety of uses to which Westside would be put once finished – and all the different opening hours involved – required the installation of highly sophisticated safety and security systems. Even during Westside’s construction, the workers had to be kept safe and their valuable equipment – not to mention the site itself as it grew skywards – kept secure. Now that Westside is open for business, the hotel offers a round-the-clock service, the shops and many of the food outlets open until late, while the multiplex cinema, bars and Bernaqua are particularly popular in the evenings and at weekends. Westside’s communication and security systems therefore had to be both networked and capable of centralised monitoring and management.

Securiton is responsible for Westside’s technical safety. The principal challenge during the construction phase was the sheer size of the site and the fact that it was in constant flux, the stipulations and particular requirements of the client and the architect, and the usual frenzy that accompanies such projects as they near completion. Securiton’s Bern office mastered this major undertaking with flying colours, helped in no small measure by the combined strengths and support of Securiton partners and others of the company’s regional offices. The work involved installing fire alarm systems both in the common parts of the complex and on tenants’ premises. A number of the 5300-plus fire sensors had to be positioned to ensure they blended in with Libeskind’s design – in other words, they had to be invisible. With so many of Westside’s users conducting their businesses separately one from the other, the safety systems had to be designed as autonomous units so that users could control their own systems – yet remain networked. The video surveillance system is highly flexible: it, too, is arranged in such a way as to allow decentralised monitoring of every area. Even before the public set foot in Westside, the cameras were already in use to bolster security during the hectic period leading up to the opening. In terms of access control, Securiton’s Bixi Systems and partner SEA developed an access and door-locking system incorporating 2200 cylinders and rescue route technology that met the requirements of the clients in every respect. Rounding out the networking of Westside’s technical safety concept, Securiton's SLS-Pro security management system offers centralised visualisation options for all alarms.