Rosehill lightweight barrier gives crowds rapid defence from vehicle attacks

Sports fans and festival goers will enjoy greater peace of mind from vehicle as a weapon (VAAW) attacks with the arrival of a new lightweight rapid-deploy vehicle security barrier (VSB).

The Rapid Defender temporary VSB was deployed in minutes to protect spectators and competitors from VAAW threat at the London Marathon and at football stadia and events the length and breadth of the country.

Rosehill Security, a leading global manufacturer of perimeter security solutions, has created the innovative hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) barrier, made up of robust units of recycled rubber weighing just 49kg each.

StadiumTM – a specialist event services supplier of traffic management, stewarding, security and training services to the events industry that protects crowds at Premier League and EFL clubs, festivals and city wide events – is extolling its benefits.

Founder, owner and MD David McAtamney says:  “We want to change the face of crowd safety through HVM barriers.  The Rapid Defender makes this a reality because of its speed of deployment – our teams installed 13m of the barrier in just five minutes at the London Marathon!”

More than 150 people have died in 18 months of VAAW in cities from London to Manhattan and Melbourne – and just last week, Toronto.

Rosehill Security has designed the Rapid Defender specifically to provide protection for crowds of people from such attacks.

Sales manager Dalton Marshall says: “It is surface-mounted with no foundations, and weighs less than a third of comparable concrete barriers, so can be deployed in minutes almost anywhere, from the streets surrounding stadia to uneven festival sites.”

The 333mm-wide units are connected by 20mm diameter steel cables or rods, creating an HVM barrier of any length.  Four men can manually install a barrier across the width of a road in less than five minutes with no special tools or lifting equipment.  It can then be removed and reused.

The Rapid Defender can be anchored or integrated with other temporary or permanent HVM systems to create a stronger physical barrier as part of an holistic HVM solution.

The Perimeter Security Suppliers Association (PSSA), to which Rosehill Security belongs, has just launched a new online source of help and information on HVM – the HVMHub – in conjunction with the Home Office’s Joint Security and Resilience Centre.