Security guards in Harrow

Which parts of Harrow do we cover?

All of it, from Harrow on the Hill and South Harrow to Pinner, Stanmore and Harrow Weald.

Harrow town centre is a Metropolitan centre in the London Plan, the tier just below the West End and Knightsbridge, and Wealdstone, immediately to the north, is a district centre. Together they give their names to the Harrow and Wealdstone Opportunity Area, with room for 5,000 homes and 1,000 jobs.

Industry is concentrated in two Strategic Industrial Locations (London Plan): the Wealdstone Industrial Area, in the middle of the borough, and Honeypot Lane in Stanmore. The council also lists the redevelopment of the former Kodak site in Wealdstone among the borough’s current developments (Harrow Council).

Beyond the centre, Harrow is suburban. At the 2021 Census, 48% of households lived in detached or semi-detached houses, against 26% in purpose-built flats (ONS). Shops are spread across the district centres of Pinner, Stanmore, Rayners Lane, North Harrow and South Harrow, with Kenton shared with Brent and Edgware, a Major centre, shared with Barnet.

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital is on Brockley Hill in Stanmore (RNOH).

What needs guarding in Harrow?

Council regeneration sites. The council’s regeneration programme includes three schemes worth knowing about:

• Poets Corner, on the former civic centre site near Harrow and Wealdstone station, planned for 1,058 homes with a community square, a park and commercial units.
• Byron Quarter, beside Byron Park, where new flats and houses will improve access to the leisure centre and the Belmont Trail.
• Grange Farm in South Harrow, a council estate being rebuilt in phases, with new affordable homes.

Each needs its gate controlled while the trades are working and someone guarding it once they’ve gone: see construction site security.

Industrial units. In the Wealdstone Industrial Area and on Honeypot Lane, officers can run the gate while vehicles come and go and patrol the yards after hours: see warehouse and industrial security.

Shops. In Harrow town centre and the district centres, a uniformed retail security officer can help prevent stock loss and back up your staff with difficult customers.

Premises that close at night. For a shop or office on a suburban parade, mobile patrols can lock up and check the building at set or random times, and our keyholding and alarm response service can send an officer if the alarm goes off.

What should you watch for in Harrow?

• Phased schemes have neighbours from the start. At Grange Farm, residents have moved into the first new homes, and the rest of the estate is being rebuilt beside them (Harrow Council). On a site like that, give officers clear rules on residents’ routes, deliveries and complaints, as well as the usual gate and hoarding checks.
• Big schemes by the station. Poets Corner is close to Harrow and Wealdstone station. Plan how lorries will reach a site like that before work starts, and use traffic marshals where they have to reverse across a pavement.
• New homes, more than new jobs. The GLA expects the Harrow and Wealdstone Opportunity Area to deliver 5,000 homes but only 1,000 jobs, so most of the new building there is likely to be homes. Once a new block opens with a front desk, our concierge officers can run it.
• Some centres sit on the border. They include Kenton, shared with Brent, and Edgware, shared with Barnet, so check which council’s rules apply to premises there.