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Metropolitan Safe Deposits in the final stages of building substantial new vault in Chiswick.

2 January 2019

Metropolitan Safe Deposits in the final stages of building substantial new vault in Chiswick.

A £2 million, nine-month project to construct a modern vault in Chiswick is set for completion in the coming weeks. The Chief Executive of Metropolitan Safe Deposits, Christopher Barrow, has revealed that "the new vault is to be built on time and within budget. We are very excited that this West London vault with a capacity of over 8,000 safe deposit boxes will complement our two Central London vaults in Knightsbridge and St John's Wood."

The vault itself was custom designed and built by the leading manufacturer of physical security products, Robur Safe AB of Sweden. Historically, vaults were made with steel-reinforced concrete walls of up to 2½ feet thick, relying largely on their immense thickness for strength. Modern vaults are now typically made of modular concrete panels using a proprietary blend of concrete and additives for extreme strength.

Robur Safe has built two Grade X vaults of massive strength in the basement of 329 Chiswick High Road. They are located on either side of a central lift and staircase, which are accessed from a secure area on the ground floor. The vault panels are around 6 inches thick made of special reinforced concrete mix consisting of cement, stone, metal and abrasive materials that resist drilling penetration. The Grade X vault doors are made of similar construction and secured with numerous metal bolts extending into the surrounding frames. Throughout the ground floor and basement of the building, Metropolitan has built or strengthened the walls, glass panels, ceilings and floors to an international, high-security standard. It is believed that this type of vault, which incorporates layers of industry-leading physical protection, as well as sophisticated alarm and surveillance systems, has never been breached when closed.

Further alarms cover the fabric, perimeter and each individual safe deposit box. Certain features are unique to Metropolitan. The overlapping alarm systems are monitored 24 hours a day by different monitoring centres that are directly connected to the police. Each office’s CCTV also allows monitoring by the other branches, as well as remotely by trained individuals. Equally importantly, Metropolitan employs carefully chosen and trained staff. Processes and procedures are crucially important, especially to ensure compliance with money laundering and counter terrorism laws and regulations.

Access to all of Metropolitan’s vaults is governed by computer-verified touch card and biometric fingerprint identification, and a set of two unique keys. Only registered customers up to a maximum of three individuals may have access to their safe deposit box. This combination of safety precautions means that customers can open their box without being escorted and overseen by a security guard and can complete their visit within a few minutes. Private rooms and booths are available if customers need to spend longer.

What is surprising to many new customers enquiring about safe deposit boxes is the affordable cost. The new Chiswick vault will offer 12 different sizes of box starting from only £95 per year including VAT. Each box also comes with £10,000 of insurance, arranged by Jelf Insurance Brokers, which is part of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc, a global leader in insurance and risk management. With the UK’s major banks having withdrawn from safe custody in Chiswick, customers will soon be able to rent a box locally with one of the UK’s leading independent safe deposit operators. In fact, future customers can reserve a box on the company’s website today.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For more information contact:

Company Spokesman

Contact:               Christopher Barrow, Group Chief Executive, Metropolitan Safe Deposits Limited

Address:              19 Cheval Place, Knightsbridge, London SW7 1EW

Tel:                         +44 20 7581 1212

Email:                    cb@metrosafe.co.uk