Miles of a mesh now crosses a Middle Eastern desert, a year on from winning a multi-million-pound contract by steel fencing manufacturer Zaun.
Zaun created a new flat-panel mesh security fence for the contract and manufactured shipping, and installing 80km of it in the Middle Eastern desert.
The new HiSec Plus panels are a variant of Zaun’s original ‘358’ welded mesh configuration with an extra wire every 250mm on the inside to enhance security. In addition, the V-panel is eradicated to remove a potential climbing aid.
The 80km worth fills a staggering 200 40ft containers that the British manufacturer is shipping to secure a critical national infrastructure site.
The design department has offset the additional 4mm wires – setting quite a challenge to the production team – to enhance the security characteristics and make the single panel almost like a dual skin fence.
Zaun research and development manager Adam Christie says: “It’s brilliant to see this new system in situ in the desert as it’s been more than five years in the design, making, shipping and installing.
“The customer had an unambiguous specification of what they wanted, but we’ve been able to work with them over time to make enhancements and to reassure them at every step of the way on quality, design, production, sourcing and logistics.”
The additional horizontal wires of HiSec Plus remove the natural bowing of traditional 358. At the same time, the 2.4m-high fence line is further secured with stainless steel razor coil topping and coated barbed wire as line wires.
The panels are bolted to 5mm-thick cold-rolled steel posts sourced from Austria, which are being welded to steel base plates at Zaun by a new robot welder bought specifically for the task, with each post and base plate a massive 75kg in dead weight.
The rolled steel is folded back on the front attack-prone flange of the post to create an effective 10mm thickness of the steel. The post assemblies are then bolted in the field to a continuous concrete beam.
The enhanced HiSec specification and fencing system cement Zaun’s ability to deliver bespoke high-security fencing solutions.
HiSec is endemic throughout UK prisons due to its tight mesh formation and the fact it can go to 5.2m in height in a single panel.
It can easily be integrated with different toppings, as in this case, and with CCTV, PIDs and other electronic security enhancements.
