Security guards in Barking and Dagenham

Which neighbourhoods and estates in Barking and Dagenham do we cover?

All of it, from Marks Gate and Chadwell Heath in the north down to the River Thames, which forms the borough’s southern boundary. The borough’s premises fall into a few groups.

• Barking town centre is the borough’s Major centre in the London Plan. The council’s Local Plan gives the town centre and the River Roding area capacity for around 15,600 new homes, including about 2,800 on the Gascoigne estate, and creative workspace is taking shape beside the Roding.
• District centres are at Dagenham Heathway, Chadwell Heath and Green Lane. The last two are shared with Redbridge, and the Local Plan proposes a new district centre at Barking Riverside.
• Industrial land lies mainly in the south. The London Plan names three Strategic Industrial Locations here: Dagenham Dock, which runs on into Rainham, Rippleside and the River Road Employment Area. Dagenham Dock includes the borough’s part of the Thames Freeport, and the borough also has an intermodal rail freight terminal.
• Established neighbourhoods include the Becontree Estate, which the London County Council built between 1921 and 1935, Dagenham Village and the Thames View Estate.
• New neighbourhoods are rising at Barking Riverside, a 178-hectare brownfield site by the Thames planned for more than 10,000 homes, which gained its own Overground station in July 2022. Beam Park, a brownfield area that continues into Havering, is another.
• Film and TV studios at Dagenham East anchor a media, science and technology cluster that the Local Plan plans around them.

What needs guarding in Barking and Dagenham?

Industrial yards and freight sites. The Local Plan keeps industry in the south of the borough and wants existing sites south of the A13 and at Dagenham Dock used more intensively. A working yard needs an officer at the gatehouse checking HGVs, drivers and visitors against the delivery schedule, then patrols of the fence line, loading docks and parked trailers once the shift ends. Our warehouse and industrial security page explains what officers can do in a working yard.

Construction sites. Barking Riverside, Thames Road, Castle Green, Beam Park and Dagenham Heathway are all Transformation Areas in the Local Plan, set aside for large-scale development. Officers can control the gate during working hours and guard plant, materials and finished units overnight, as described on our construction site security page. Where people already live beside the plots still being built, traffic marshals can guide delivery lorries through the gate and keep pedestrians apart from moving vehicles.

Shops and high streets. Uniformed retail security officers suit stores in Barking town centre and along the high streets at Dagenham Heathway and Chadwell Heath, where being visible deters theft and gives staff someone to call on.

Premises left empty at night or between phases. If a unit at River Road or Rippleside closes overnight, our keyholding and alarm response officers can hold the keys and attend when the alarm goes off. Where Thames Road and Castle Green are redeveloped in stages, mobile patrols can check vacant units and cleared plots at set or random times.

What should buyers in Barking and Dagenham plan for?

• Expect a lot of change. The Local Plan, adopted on 18 September 2024, supports at least 38,864 new homes and some 20,000 new jobs by 2037. Gates, hoardings and access routes move as phases finish, so review your security plan at each stage rather than once at the start.
• Industry and homes are moving closer together. The plan releases some industrial sites and mixes homes and industry on others: Thames Road is to be redeveloped with new homes beside existing businesses, and the plan for Castle Green pushes industry to the edges of the area to make room for housing. A yard with new neighbours may need quieter night patrols, clear rules for lorries waiting outside the gate, and a named contact for residents.
• Taller buildings are planned in Barking. The plan says buildings of up to 95 metres could be appropriate in the town centre’s tall building location. A tall frame under construction means cranes, hoists and scaffold access to secure out of hours, and hot works may need a fire watch.