Building Facilities - Essex | Livingston | Manchester

Fire Protection

All The Hill Company records centres benefit from the latest fire protection systems which include:

VESDA (Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus) smoke detectors – This
system constantly samples the air conditions within the centre. Should
any changes occur it sends a warning to the operations team with a zonal
reference for any potential concern.
Zonal monitoring systems linked to Redcare – If an alarm is raised it will automatically alert the relevant emergency service.
Zonal sprinkler system – Should the sprinkler system be required, it would
only be activated in the area of the fire. This avoids jeopardising the entire
archive.
Inergen gas protected areas – Inergen gas is used in our Durasteel vaults.
These vaults are a sealed environment and are used for business-critical
documents such as Deeds, Wills and Digital Media. Should a fire ignite
within the vault the Inergen gas is released and reduces oxygen levels to
eliminate the fire.
Fire Safety Equipment –Fire extinguishers throughout document storage
facility.
Fire Training – Fire marshals on site that have been trained in the use of
fire extinguishers.
No Smoking Policy – Smoking is prohibited at The Hill Company’s
facilities.

Security

Security is of paramount importance to The Hill Company and our records centres all benefit from the following controls and equipment in place:

Internal Security

Visitors are by appointment only, signed in and escorted – Prior to site
visits, visitors & contractors are requested to complete visitor entry forms
and confidentiality agreements.
Access control – All doors leading to the records centres and admin
areas are only accessible with a swipe access card.
Internal and external colour CCTV cameras for 24-hour surveillance
recorded to a digital video recorder – digital recorder is in a secure area
and holds recordings for 30 days.
NACOSS approved and maintained intruder alarms with GSM Redcare
Intruder alarms are monitored 24/7 by an independent monitoring
station.

External Security

Record Centres – All sites are standalone buildings with sole occupancy.
Perimeter fencing – around the entirety of all sites.
Single gated entrance always locked – Monitors the access of
Authorised staff and visitors.
Security lighting – Lighting external areas to enable CCTV to record.
Overnight patrols – Random time inspections of the exterior of the
Building.
Police & Key Holder response – Intruder activations are alerted to the
Police and key holders by the monitoring station.

Digital Access and Control via our Web Portal

Our web portal allows you to order items for delivery or collection, order supplies, manage destructions, view activity or scans of documents.

Users’ access can be tailored to your specific needs – You can set individual access or departmental access to ‘view only’, ‘order only’ or ‘edit’ or any combination. The system is ‘real- time’ meaning you have always got full control and accurate information at your fingertips.

The use of O’Neil’s software allows us to fully track and trace our client’s items using barcodes. Handheld pocket pc’s scan the item at the point of collection, while in transit and within our record centres. Clients can have confirmation of all deliveries and collections via an e-receipt.

The web portal can hold varied information, for example:

Box number
Contents & Descriptions
File reference
Departments
Client names
Review/Destroy dates

Searching for information is easy with the use of full text search. You can search for information contained in any field, to find a specific record.

The web portal is fully customisable to allow you total control over the data you see. In addition, we can create ‘monthly management reports’.

Fleet

We offer a nationwide coverage from our 5-purpose built records centre. Items can be requested back digitally or delivered physically on a same day or next day service.

All deliveries & collections are performed using our own fleet of liveried, tracked vehicles and uniformed drivers. For your peace of mind all staff visiting your workplace are uniformed and have a photographic ID.

All Hill company staff are employed by us, we do not use temporary staff. Prior to employment all staff go through a comprehensive vetting process including full DBS. Our recruitment process is compliant to BS7898.

Environment

We are committed to running a ‘greener’ business and are constantly looking for ways to bring new efficiencies into our operations – over the last 2 years these have included the following initiatives:

565 solar panels installed for the creation of green energy to power Head
office.
All paper and plastic used within the business is recycled.
All fleet upgraded from Euro 4 & 5 engines to Euro 6 engines, increasing
fuel efficiency and significantly reducing harmful emissions.
Eliminating the use of single use plastics in all Hill Company premises.
Investment in new scanning equipment to increase efficiency and
reduce waste paper.
Motion sensors & LED lighting installed to reduce electrical
consumption

Racking

The racking that we use is a modular, steel construction – Enabling us to alter dimensions to suit individual client requirements. Each box location within the racking is identified by a location code pinpointing its exact location within our facilities.

Each box has the same static location for life (when the box is retrieved it returns to the same location on return). We do not operate a random filing system which is common practice within our industry.

Client Viewing Facilities

The Hill Company provide client viewing rooms, which enable customers to view their archive material onsite at The Hill Company. We can provide these rooms with 24 hours notice and will make sure that the boxes/files that you wish to review are ready and waiting in the room prior to your arrival along with a cup of tea or coffee.

Private and secure client viewing areas are available with copying, e-mail, secure web access and telephone facilities.

Durasteel Vault

Business critical documents such as wills and deeds are stored within The Durasteel, 4 hour fire resistant vaults. The vaults are humidity controlled, fully alarmed, CCTV monitored, and access is controlled via a swipe card.

The vaults have the added fire protection of Inergen gas systems within them.