When walking through Birmingham City Council, most people are unaware of the discreet measures in place to reduce the risks associated with vehicle as a weapon attacks.
For many years, Birmingham City Council relied on the National Barrier Assets (NBAs), owned by the Metropolitan Police, as a cost effective protection measure to protect people within the city centre from vehicle-as-weapon attacks. For a time, it made sense to use NBAs as they were a cost-effective solution. While this approach previously met the city’s operational needs, 2025 prompted a review of the long term strategy. Crowdguard was engaged to provide a risk led, proportionate and future proof HVM strategy, aligned with the city’s people first ambitions.
A Distinctly Crowdguard Approach
Crowdguard’s differentiator is our end to end, fully managed service.
Using our Plan Provide Protect approach, we began by understanding the site specific vulnerabilities, confirming the operational requirement and ensuring all recommendations aligned with national best practice.
Because we operate independently across the full HVM market we were able to specify a solution that best matched the threat profile, operational needs and the city’s public realm vision. This ensures we place the right system in the right environment.
We then project managed the entire process: surveys, specification, manufacturer engagement, programme management, installation and quality assurance. This safeguarded installed as tested integrity while giving Birmingham a seamless coordinated experience.
Key facts:
Challenge: Permanent HVM measures needed to be installed in 4 separate locations on a very tight schedule
Result: Design to handover was completed in 12 weeks working on multiple locations whilst still allowing access for everyday city life.
Where: Birmingham City Centre
Project completed: October 2025
Partnerships: Heald, Marshalls, Nationwide Security Bollards.
Bringing the city up to date
Given the requirement for certified defence against vehicle borne risks, Birmingham’s replacement scheme utilised PAS68, IWA 14-1 or ISO 22343-1:2023 impact tested systems, which are the global standard’s for evaluating the performance of vehicle security barriers.
The final specification included
- Marshalls Static Shallow Mount Bollards
- Heald Matador automated system, combining two automated impact tested bollards, adjacent static bollards and integrated lighting columns.
These automated systems support the city’s need for controlled authorised access whilst remaining sympathetic to the pedestrian environment. The system supports efficient access arrangements and reduces the operational resource previously required.
Delivering to a Tight Timescale.
Although the wider replacement programme extends to 2029, four locations required urgent upgrades ahead of the Frankfurt Christmas Market build. This gave Crowdguard just 12 weeks to deliver four permanent installations simultaneously; a demanding schedule that required agility, close collaboration, and proactive risk management.
During the works, unforeseen external incidents, including a fire in an adjacent building, created additional challenges. As Managing Director, Iain Moran notes: “You can’t plan for every eventuality, but you can build contingencies that allow works to progress safely and effectively.”
Thanks to resilient planning and strong stakeholder coordination, all sites were delivered within the required window.
I’m happy to say that our new HVM measures help to make Birmingham a more ‘people-first’ city.
Communication was key
With a complex programme and immovable deadline, stakeholder communication was essential. Together with project partners Heald, Marshalls, and Nationwide Security Bollards, we ensured absolute clarity around design, timelines, site coordination, and operational impacts.
Iain explains, “Effective stakeholder engagement is critical. It ensures that the city can continue to operate normally while works are underway, and it removes delays that might otherwise compromise the programme.”
Coordinated engagement with the local authority, highways teams, businesses, and Christmas Market stakeholders ensured installation and build-up activity could progress seamlessly.
Impact
Despite the challenging timeframe, all systems were completed ahead of schedule, enabling the city to prepare for the Christmas Market without disruption.
The Council reflected positively on the outcome: “The new Heald and Marshall’s systems provided and installed by Crowdguard are a great asset for the city. They provide a much more permanent level of protection than the previous temporary installations whilst being much more pedestrian friendly, as they do not create bottlenecks in an already busy city centre. I’m happy to say that our new HVM measures help to make Birmingham a more ‘people first’ city” – Michael Enderby Head of Resilience and Operations for Birmingham City Council
Impact
Fore more information on our work with permanent HVM measures, get in touch with info@crowdguard.co.uk.