UK IoT provider North is to provide safety and security technologies to Northumbrian Water and the Lumen office building in the north-east of England.

The £1m boost for North, which employs 20 people in Newcastle, will see it launch a recruitment drive to support growth plans in the region.

The Lumen forms part of the £350m Newcastle Helix development, the city’s flagship regeneration scheme and home to the National Centre for Data & Ageing. A Newcastle City Council, Newcastle University and Legal & General development, the project is at the heart of city centre and is set to boost local jobs and drive economic growth.

“We are delighted to be working with North,” said Sarah Thompson, assistant building manager at the Lumen. “With our high-tech systems we have in place within the Lumen, we needed to ensure we had a service provider with the skills set to maintain these systems. We find the service team very knowledgeable and quick to react.”

North has been awarded the contract for the building’s smart systems control and will install fire and security alarms in addition to a PA system and a disabled refuge system. The company will also provide a managed support service for the eight storey Grade A office building and will install technology for each new tenant within the building based on individual requirements.

“As part of Newcastle’s regeneration, the Lumen building is a flagship project at the very heart of the city centre and we are integrating smart systems control to ensure safety and security for all occupants within the building to support future growth,” said Lewis Reid, head of construction and FM services at North.

Northumbrian Water operates in the north-east of England, where it provides water and sewage services to 1.3 million properties, and in the south-east of England, where it trades as Essex & Suffolk Water and supplies water to 794,000 properties. While North has a long-standing relationship with the north-east England arm of the organisation, it has now also been awarded a contract for Essex & Suffolk Water.

An enormous operation supplying 1.1 billion litres of water every day, it is essential that Northumbrian Water has a secure operation. Its water, which is drawn from reservoirs, rivers and groundwater sources before being treated and delivered to homes and businesses, will now be protected by North’s safety and security technology.

The project will see the company install the likes of CCTV, access control, intruder alarms and high security technology across both regions, while it will provide a managed support contract for the provider.

“The projects mark a significant boost for North’s Newcastle base as the company looks to grow the team,” said Reid.

Adding to its current workforce in the city, North is recruiting for life safety systems engineers and technical engineers as part of business growth plans.

“These projects mark a significant growth period for us in the north-east and underlines our high-quality, critical systems service offering,” said Reid. “We are thrilled to continue working with Northumbrian Water and expanding across the southern arm of the company to deliver a wider range of services. High-level security is essential for the provider and we are installing and maintaining the very best of technology throughout the project.”

He said this was “an incredibly exciting time” for North and as it grows and expands, with an ambitious strategy to attract new business and reinforce North’s expertise across the north-east.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming new team members, each who will bring unique skillsets to the existing team and enable us to continue our expansion,” he said.

Within the north-east, North has additionally been involved in a 5G connected and automated logistics pilot, which has succeeded in its mission to prove the potential of technology in overcoming barriers for a more efficient future for last-kilometre logistics. As the prime contractor, project manager and systems integrator, North put the infrastructure in place to test and demonstrate the operational 5G-enabled autonomous delivery.