Operations

ExCeL London steps up security with long-term Halo Solutions deal

Featured image credit: Halo Solutions

Halo Solutions, a UK-based event and venue management technology company, has signed a new long-term partnership with ExCeL London, which will implement the Halo System incident and risk management platform across the venue.

The partnership is designed to enhance safety and security at the venue, which hosts a range of sports and entertainment events.

Halo System is already implemented at 1,800 events across the UK, and ExCeL will use the platform to provide live-action updates on all incidents, tasks and venue checks, linking its in-house teams and controllers.

The platform will facilitate multi-agency inputs to support provision of crowd safety across the 100-acre site, helping to reduce radio traffic, boosting resilience and ensuring security staff remain on the frontline.

As part of the agreement, a number of training exercises from Halo’s team of counter-terrorism experts will be carried out. The first one in February was attended by more than 250 external contractors and security personnel.

Henry Havis, head of security at ExCeL and chair of the Association of Event Venues’ security working group, said: “As London’s largest venue hosting 400 events and welcoming some four million visitors a year, the safety and security of everyone who comes through our doors remains our utmost priority.

“Our new partnership with Halo Solutions is the latest in a line of measures we’ve taken to further enhance this, together with extensive training for not only our in-house team, but also external companies, contractors and personnel that work in and around our venue.”

Lloyd Major, chief executive and founder of Halo Solutions, added: “Working with the team at ExCeL is a hugely significant milestone. Their venue is undoubtedly one of the largest and most high-profile in the UK. It has been a great pleasure learning more from the team and their vision with regards to crowd safety, security, and guest experience. We are proud the Halo System will now be helping to support achieving these goals.”

Halo Solutions recently rolled out over 75 features and system updates to Halo System.

The version five updates included entirely new APIs for the whole system, a document library so that risk assessments and protocols can be stored for staff to access instantly, a new Bulletin Board for ejections and risky people, and a totally newly designed dashboard and upgraded mapping integrations.

In September, Halo Solutions detailed ground-breaking advances in ticket-scanning with the launch of the first and only ticket-scanning functionality in the world that is directly linked to an incident management platform, functioning in real-time.

In March, the Ageas Bowl, home of Hampshire Cricket, entered into a partnership with Halo Solutions to streamline event safety and security at the ground.