Millennium Point is a landmark building in Birmingham City Centre comprised of award-winning event spaces including a 350-capacity auditorium, flexible workspaces, meeting rooms and offices. It also houses tenants including Thinktank and Birmingham City University. The Millennium Point Charitable Trust invests in projects which support science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in the West Midlands and reinvests profits from its commercial activity.
About the partnership
Millennium Point experiences high foot traffic daily, making security a critical priority. Its strategic location and multi-functional design demand robust security to ensure the safety of its occupants, assets, and visitors whilst maintaining a dynamic and welcoming environment.
We have been a security partner for Millennium Point since 2019. We provide 24/7 security, including control room operatives, front of house staff, and a dedicated loading bay officer. Our team manages everything from reception services to monitoring critical alarms and systems, as well as handling intelligence threat updates, particularly around protests and large events.
Our presence extends to all aspects of site management. We’re responsible for the safety of the entire building and therefore work closely with the tenants and their suppliers, supporting them with fire evacuations and emergency incidents to ensure smooth operations. The high footfall, including thousands of children visiting each day, requires us to be vigilant, especially in safeguarding vulnerable visitors.
The complex nature of Millennium Point demands a personalised approach. Our dedicated on-site contract manager ensures seamless operations, whilst our skilled team adapts daily to the diverse needs of the building. During the Covid-19 pandemic, our team played a key role in transforming Millennium Point into Birmingham’s largest vaccination centre, handling security to ensure safe operations. At its peak, 3,000 vaccinations were delivered per day.
Our strong partnership with Millennium Point has led to a recent contract renewal, extending our services for another 3+2 years.
Team restructure and enhanced training
Since winning the contract, we focused our efforts on restructuring the security team to enhance its flexibility and adaptability to the ever-changing needs of the Millennium Point building. Our recruitment strategy focused on finding multi-skilled, customer-focused officers who were not only security-conscious but willing to assist with the wider support tasks. We successfully completed the restructure with no disruption to the client or our daily operation. Additionally, we secured a higher rate of pay for our officers, which has boosted morale, improved retention, and led to a high performing team.
We overhauled the shift patterns, moving from inconsistent schedules to a 4-on and 4-off A and B team shifts. This adjustment, implemented during the height of the pandemic, ensured the safety of our team by minimising the risk of cross-contamination between shifts, as colleagues working shift A and shift B would never meet.
We successfully negotiated an increase in contract hours to maintain this shift structure, strengthening the overall resilience of our operations at Millennium Point.
Our entire team is highly trained in medical response which enables us to support with handling medical incidents on site. All officers receive extended medical training in trauma, bleed stop, advanced first aid and the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). This medical training has been developed specifically for Millennium Point with real-life scenarios by our very own head of service delivery, Mark Caulkin, who is a medically trained and accredited trainer. This course is also provided to Millennium Point employees, their events team and all external facilities management providers, such as the cleaning team and the maintenance contractors.
The team also receives IOSH and counter- terrorism training allowing us to uphold high health and safety standards and enhance our security and emergency preparedness.
Technology partner
Millennium Point prioritises the safety of its staff, tenants, visitors, and the surrounding community, exploring innovative ways to enhance the effectiveness of the security operation on site. As part of this commitment, the client invested significantly in the redesign and upgrade of the building’s security control room. We have supported the client along the way, bringing our expertise to advise on the latest technology and enhanced methods of working that will greatly improve incident management and overall safety. The new state-of-the-art control room features HD monitors, 1080p cameras and is fully integrated with fire alarms, access control, intruder alarms, and emergency systems. It enables us to manage incidents with precision and speed, with alarm locations mapped instantly and cameras accessible within seconds to optimise response times.
We also implemented Project Blueprint, our real-time situational awareness platform, at Millennium Point. The system is already utilised by the UK’s emergency and security services, and we are delighted to offer this software exclusively to the private sector. Project Blueprint is used to capture all daily incidents and allows remote access to live incident logs, enabling the client to stay informed from anywhere.
The platform supports a wide range of security operations at Millennium Point, from lone worker tracking to incident escalation, and has proven invaluable during emergency incidents including a bomb threat and gas leak by allowing remote monitoring and incident management for our client, reducing the need for on-site intervention.
Millennium Point continues to invest in security innovation, with plans to implement a new access control system. We look forward to supporting this next phase which will further enhance our security operation.
Looking ahead
As our partnership with Millennium Point continues to evolve, we remain committed to enhancing proactive security measures, fostering transparent communication, and consistently improving our service delivery.
Our monthly KPI reports provide a comprehensive breakdown of incidents and we have been maintaining a consistent 100% score for incident management which is testament to our team’s dedication to ensure Millennium Point remains a safe and secure environment for all.
Millennium Point has become a benchmark site within our portfolio, frequently used as a case study for both current and prospective clients due to the unique service delivery, specialist training and innovative security practices.
We are excited to continue this collaborative partnership, providing flexible, responsive and innovative security services that evolve with the needs of this landmark building.
“Our business is diverse and dynamic, requiring flexibility and creativity on a regular basis, and the Amulet team always delivers. Blueprint has been a game changer for us both in day-to-day management of the site and our preparedness to deal with incidents big and small. The Amulet team is firmly embedded in the Millennium Point team and vital to our continued success as a property business, events business and charity.“
Linda Degg, Facilities Director
