World leaders secured in The Hague

24th July 2014

High Security, Security, Temporary Events

The Challenge

Holland had to mount its largest ever security operation when it hosted the third Nuclear Security Summit at the World Forum in The Hague in March 2014, with 13,000 police officers, 3,000 soldiers and 4,000 military police mobilized during the summit.

Organisers had to guarantee the security of the world leaders from 53 countries, including event sponsor US President Barack Obama, and up to 3,000 journalists without unduly disrupting the day-to-day lives and business of local Dutch citizens.

The Solution

Dutch police turned to a British high security fencing systems manufacturer with a growing international reputation as the go-to company when world leaders gather and the hosts need to guarantee their protection.

Zaun installed 30km of fencing to secure the London 2012 Olympics including VIP emergency gates at the Olympic Stadium which were dubbed the Obama Gates.

Last year it provided the same service for the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland and the influential meeting of global leaders and the world’s commercial, political and financial powers at the Bilderberg conference at The Grove in Watford.

Zaun worked with long-term partners Hardstaff Barriers and Highway Care to design, manufacture, install and decommission the temporary high- security cordon around the summit, which included 13 gates and almost 3km of fencing, much of it designed to mitigate attack by hostile vehicles or protesting mobs of people.

Debates within the security cordon – 1.8km of SecureGuard and 1.1km of its RDS Rapid Deployable System – focused on how to lock up the world’s nuclear materials more securely so they would not be so easy for terrorists to steal: a field again where Zaun has helped in securing the nuclear industry.

About Zaun

Zaun Limited is the sole remaining manufacturer of welded and woven mesh fencing systems that manufactures the entire system in the UK. Zaun makes the mesh, fencing panels, posts, clamp bars and fixings at its state-of-the-art five-acre production facility in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. Products have been tested and approved by testing organisations including CPNI, LPCB and Secured by Design.

Zaun works very closely with all stakeholders within the business including employees, local, national and international suppliers and a long-established customer base of fencing contractors to design, manufacture and supply high-quality fencing systems, increasingly often providing expertise in integrating PIDs and other systems into holistic security solutions.

Zaun was founded in 1996 and remains a private company solely owned by co-founder Alastair Henman with a regional office in Dubai. They are certified to the ISO 9001 quality standard. It is also a member of the Perimeter Security Suppliers’ Association (PSSA), of which Alastair Henman is a director.

Zaun is a proud British manufacturer and founder member of the Made in Britain campaign, a key player in the UK fencing market and one of the fastest-growing companies in an increasingly competitive industry.