Guide
Steel screens, camera towers or guards: which suits an empty building
Updated
Screens stop entry, towers create evidence and a response, guards create presence. Most empty buildings need one of these, some need two, and very few need all three for the whole void period.
What each option is actually for
| Option | Best at | Weak at |
|---|---|---|
| Steel screens and door sets | Keeping people out of the building, permanently, without anyone attending | Doing anything about the yard, the roof or the perimeter |
| Concrete barriers and blocks | Stopping vehicles: fly-tipping, traveller incursion, ram raids on shutters | Stopping a person on foot |
| Alarm and CCTV tower with monitoring | Detecting activity early on open ground and creating usable evidence | Physically preventing anything; it depends on someone responding |
| Manned guarding | Visible deterrence and immediate response, including during works or a hand-over | Cost: it is bought by the hour, 168 hours a week for continuous cover |
| Key holding and inspection visits | Spotting leaks, damage and forced entry early, and satisfying inspection conditions | Anything that happens between visits |
A sensible order to think in
- Close the building first. Screens and door sets remove the cheapest, most common attack: walking in through a broken window. This is the base layer on almost every void.
- Then deal with vehicles. If there is a yard, a car park or an open service road, blocks and barriers stop fly-tipping and vehicle-borne theft that screens cannot touch.
- Then add detection where it earns its keep. A monitored tower makes sense on large open sites, on sites with plant or metal left on them, and where you need evidence for insurers or the police.
- Add people only for what people are needed for. Guarding is the right answer during strip-out, during a disputed occupation, or in the first weeks after a high-profile closure. Very few buildings need it for a whole void.
The metal theft problem
Empty buildings are stripped for what is in them: copper cable, lead flashing, cabling risers, catalytic converters in car parks, boilers and radiators, cladding. That risk goes up the moment the building visibly empties, and it is the reason a screening job is judged on how quickly it goes in, not just on price. If a building is being handed back next week, ask providers what their lead time is before you compare rates.
Guarding and SIA licensing
Security guarding in the UK is a licensed activity regulated by the Security Industry Authority, set up under the Private Security Industry Act 2001 (legislation.gov.uk, SIA on gov.uk). If you are buying guarding, ask for licence numbers and check the rate makes sense: the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour from April 2026 (gov.uk), and a compliant hourly charge has to sit above that once employer costs, licensing, supervision and margin are added. A guarding quote priced near the wage floor is telling you something.
Which mix is right depends on the building, the neighbourhood and how long it stands empty. Providers will tell you what they would put on your site for free: get quotes and compare their recommendations as well as their prices.