A new era in security consultancy

Following the acquisition of SGW by AESG, James Humphreys, Assistant Editor, Centurian Media speaks exclusively with Simon Whitehouse, Founder of SGW, and Saeed Al Abbar, CEO of AESG, to learn more about AESG’s new Security Consultancy division.

Can you tell me more about AESG and what your company’s core values are?

Saeed Al Abbar (SAA): We’re a consultancy business with core offices in the Middle East, the UK and in the Asia Pacific region.

We are split into three core areas: Environment and Sustainability business – which covers all specs of natural environment, built environment, sustainability, net zero, decarbonisation – our Specialised Engineering Business which covers services like MEPF, Facades, Fire Life Safety, Acoustics, Security Consultancy and we have our Project Delivery Management arm which is cost consultancy, commissioning and digital delivery services.

In terms of our core values, we started as a sustainability business over 14 years ago. Sustainability, net zero and decarbonisation are central elements of our identity as a business.

As an organisation, we embrace big challenges, taking on the most demanding projects.

This approach allows us to work with top tier clients and a team of the best in the industry, who collectively strive to advance the industry for the better.

You recently acquired SGW. What were the reasons behind this and how does this decision fit into your expansion plans?

SAA: Simon and I have known each other for a number of years and I’ve always had a lot of respect for SGW as an organisation and what it provides – we have actually collaborated on many opportunities in the past.

There’s a natural overlap between what we do on the Fire and Life Safety side and what is provided on the security side. There is very good synergy in how we work together. I think we see things very similarly in terms of our approach to projects and the industry.

The team at SGW wants to work on challenging projects, which clearly demonstrates the value of this investment and why they are thought leaders in the industry.

Their expertise also aligns with the wider services we provide, making the acquisition a natural fit for our expansion plans. The crucial element is that it also gets us into new service lines that are high value and where we can excel as industry leaders.

Perhaps the most important aspect of welcoming SGW is cultural alignment. This has been the focus over the last few months as we integrate the teams.

The integration has been seamless, with both teams driven to improve, provide the best services to clients and advance security consultancy in the industry as a whole.

In your new role, how will you help the company with its plans for the future?

Simon Whitehouse (SW): As Saeed explained, AESG’s ethos is about delivering exceptional consultancy services to clients and improving environmental, economic and social sustainability globally.

My role is going to be focused on helping AESG deliver these high levels of customer satisfaction.

I love feedback from a security context across the built environment – it’s the most important component of the experience that SGW has developed over many years.

My role will be focused on ensuring that the newly formed AESG Security Division and our interactions with customers and colleagues from the other specialist divisions reflect the value that AESG places on quality and the application of lessons learned from the projects we deliver.

I think that’s a fundamental ingredient and component of striving for excellence.

This is also focused on investing in professional people and experiences, learning lessons from the projects we deliver whilst also leveraging the existing strong brand reputation that I’m proud SGW has created through its operational reputation since 2011.

I am pleased to be doing my part to seamlessly integrate that reputation and brand into AESG, across all of its business units.

What is AESG’s Security Consultancy Line and how will it benefit your current and future clients?

SW: AESG’s Security Consultancy division will provide security consultancy services within the built environment.

By utilising media, exhibitions, conferences and other thought leadership platforms, we are focused on encouraging developers, architects and design teams to engage with security from the outset – from the inception of a project when it’s still considered a dream, rather than treating security as a late appointment.

RIBA and the new Security Overlay encourages our engagement at ‘stage zero’, which is the strategic definition stage of a project when the client is selecting the individual plots that they’re going to develop, the location of those plots and how a design brief and concept master plan are actually going to evolve.

AESG specialist teams are working across many built environment disciplines and my remit is to create a joined-up approach with my colleagues to ensure we don’t have gaps that are costly, cause overruns or delays – these factors create client dissatisfaction.

We’re very much focused on this approach. AESG has a well-established and mature Fire and Life Safety team, with divisions across both the UK and the Middle East.

I’m involved in discussions with my departmental leads in Fire and Life Safety to ensure that my Security team and their team have a consistent approach to projects.

I also think areas where the security consultancy line will benefit future clients is that we will be working very closely with the Cost Consultancy team.

The security budget is always a challenge. Sadly, some still see security as a grudge buy and not as a value-add. By having professional cost consultants within the practice, we can actually look at having model formulas and cost indices.

This allows us to plot for project time duration costings and helps us avoid surprises.

This also helps to ensure that the security budget is not cut in half, allowing us to avoid a situation that results in a system or security solution being deployed that is not fit for purpose and doesn’t mitigate risk.

We also need to have a much more seamless approach when it comes to the digital delivery of smart city projects. SGW has a legacy of public space, town and city centre surveillance projects over our many, many years of operation, going all the way back to 2003.

This experience has exposed us to civil engineering expertise, putting fibre optic networks in towns and cities as well as designing and developing command and control centres.

Now, working with my colleagues in the AESG Digital Delivery team, we’re going to adopt a much wider remit where we’re not just looking at security sensors on a network, but also environmental sensors, air pollution monitoring, sustainability, journey management and more.

This is a big area that we’re focused on at the moment.

AESG has an extremely mature and established commissioning team made up of highly professional individuals that work across various disciplines of project implementation.

Bringing security into that and making sure that documentation, operations and maintenance manuals are on a digital platform allows the system to be properly managed and maintained by teams moving forward.

What attracted you to the role at AESG and how does it vary from positions you’ve had in the past?

I’ve owned an SGW branded-business since 2003, first as SGW and Associates, which started with me working as a freelance consultant, before developing a team from 2011 onwards.

The business grew to meet market needs and developed internationally as SGW Safety and Security Limited. During this period, we operated a single discipline service focused on security across the built environment.

I often felt a need to have a joined-up approach with fire and life safety, cost consultancy, environmental commissioning and some of the other disciplines I mentioned previously.

Security has many purposes in built environment projects, always with a primary focus on risk mitigation and the protection of assets.

I was attracted to AESG for many reasons – a few key ones being the credentials of the leadership team. Saeed Al Abbar and Scott Coombes lead by example and have a hands-on approach to leadership.

The 100+ strong senior leadership team working across multiple disciplines – as well as the senior management team and management team underneath – leads many industry specialists committed to bringing the very best talent in the industry to the business and sharing a common goal and ambition to strive for excellence.

The team is made up of ambitious, passionate thought leaders who are always thinking outside the box; always looking to develop new initiatives, new policies, new processes and ways to present information.

Of course, as a consultancy, we are there to help the client make informed decisions throughout the lifecycle of a project.

I’ve been extremely impressed with the project portfolio as well as the ever-increasing geographical reach of AESG. For many years, I’ve operated in Saudi Arabia from a UK base.

Now, I have people on the ground in the necessary locations without having to fly those people in from our headquarters.

With AESG’s footprint, we also have a mature client base and many recurring, repeat customers.

This was a real value-add and it allows me and my team to have a real springboard, now powered by AESG – it’s enabling us to take security to the next level.