Around the Newportarea, as well as throughout Cardiff and Bridgend, there are plots of land and commercial sites that are yet to be developed and are left unoccupied. Unoccupied land is very much like a vacant property and can be highly vulnerable to crime, meaning property and business owners must take proactive precautions to ensure sites remain safe, secure, and protected.
In Newportand across the UK, vandalism and trespassing are growing problems where owners aren’t actively occupying the space. There is also the potential risk of squatters moving onto your site, which can prove to be both time-consuming and expensive to resolve.
If you have a plot of land that is intended to be developed on or sold at a later date, then it may be worth it to keep reading and understand how you can properly protect and secure your unoccupied land.
Physical Barriers
Concrete blocks
Placing concrete blocks across tracks/lowered pavements/roads will prevent anyone from driving onto your site. As their name suggests concrete blocks are made of concrete and are extremely heavy which means that they cannot be easily lifted or moved by anybody who might want to get onto your land (unless they use machinery to move them)
Fencing
To maximise the security around your unoccupied land, robust physical barriers such as perimeter fencing will prevent casual trespassers from gaining access.
- Although fencing alone isn’t a foolproof deterrent, it adds a critical layer of protection.
- Anti-climb options featuring sharp points or spiked toppings at the top can actively dissuade criminals from attempting to scale your boundary.
Boarding & Steel Security
For vacant buildings or structures sitting on unoccupied land:
- Boarding: Usually entails securing doors and windows with solid timber boards as a cost-effective temporary measure for short-term vacancies.
- Security Doors & Windows: For long-term protection, steel security doors and windows offer superior defense against vandalism. Equipped with anti-tamper fixings and damage-proof builds, they prevent intruders from forcing entry without heavy tools or machinery.
Security doors and windows
If you have a vacant building, then using steel security doors and windows are a great measure for safeguarding against vandalism.
Using heavy-duty security doors and windows offers a higher level of protection compared to standard doors and windows or boarding as they tend to come with anti-tamper fixings, as well as being damage proof.
This means that vandals and squatters and other trespassers are extremely unlikely to be able to gain access to your vacant property without having to use tools or machinery.
Security
CCTV
CCTV remains as one of the best deterrents to trespassers. If criminals feel like they are being watched, they are less likely to enter your premises in which they are not permitted.
CCTV allows the ability to monitor your site 24/7 and can provide detailed footage. This can help those who are monitoring your site and CCTV quickly identify any dangers or threats such as vandalism, thieves or other trespassers and can quickly respond before anything serious happens.
If something does happen on your property, the footage captured can be used as evidence for investigations and prosecution.
Other measures
Property guardians
Although property guardians is a new idea, they are used a temporary measure to help protect empty properties or commercial premises such as warehouses, schools and disused restaurants and pubs.
A property guardians’ role is to act as a ‘house sitter’ and live in unoccupied properties on a short-term basis so that it prevents squatters from moving in or damage taking place.
 Security guards
Although this would be quite an extreme measure for small plots of unoccupied land or properties, large properties such as warehouses and large plots of land can benefit from these services.
Manned guarding is mainly used to protect key access points such as gates and doorways so that no one can gain access. They can also be placed in areas that are deemed as a blind spot for CCTV camera’s and act as an extra set of eyes to ensure that there is no suspicious activity. Manned guards can also be used to monitor CCTV and can quickly notify other security guards or police that there is suspicious activity on your property.
Partner with Trusted Professionals Across South Wales
Whether you are managing vacant sites in Newport or expanding commercial operations across Swansea, Gloucester, Bristol, Hereford, and Worcester, comprehensive facilities and security management is vital.
As part of the broader A&R network delivering top-tier commercial cleaning, contract cleaning services, and professional facility services south wales, we help businesses safeguard their physical assets. To find out more about our security and facility solutions, visit our website or arrange a free quotation today.
Get in touch with us today –
- Email: info@alwaysresponsive.com
- Call: 01656 713950
