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Thread: Hatton Gardens

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    1,754
    Country: Wales

    Default

    Either way the problem is the reinforcing- core drills will zip through the concrete but don't like steel. Hilti mention the DD350 being capable of coring through rebar, but ordinary rebar reinforcement is a long way off what's used in strong room walls.

    Spiral Mattress is incredibly thick and interlocking, and deflector reinforcements like Tangbar and Tordbar are designed to present the maximum angular surface for deflection while also being unpredictable. So when you hit it, even from multiple holes in different places it's very difficult to piece together a plan of the shapes and predict where it is. You can't avoid it basically, it's dispersed right through the concrete and 2 meter walls would normally have Tangbar and the Spiral meshes throughout it.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
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    Bulgaria
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    Country: Bulgaria

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    They must have also known where they could tap into 3 phase- or have taken a generator with them. How do you take all that into a safe deposit building in Hatton garden with nobody noticing????

  3. #23
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    Sep 2007
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    Aberdeenshire
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    697
    Country: Great Britain

    Default Strong-Rooms.

    The accepted practice for strongroom construction by the leading British companies is that the wall thickness should be three times that
    of the actual protective thickness of that of the door blade. i.e. Chubb 3.5 AA, Tann 450 FTS, matched to a 12" wall either pre-cast or
    cast-in-situ. (pre-cast allows for better quality control of the mix but cannot provide watertight construction).

    It will not be surprising to learn that the 2 meter figure mentioned includes the foundation structure against which the concrete was poured.

    The highest security vaults in this country such as the Cash Centres of our leading banks are approximately three feet thick to accommodate doors with a protective thickness of 10 to 12 inches.

    In most cases they are surrounded by a visual inspection corridor of such width that precludes the use of the packed lance and heavy core drills.

    The design of security concrete has greatly improved over recent years as have the quality contols applied over its placement.

    This method of breaching a strong room wall is now incorporated into the Standards of the VdS Grades CD.

  4. #24
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    Aug 2013
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    Country: Wales

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    Just realised I was a bit vague with the descriptions- the Mattress reinforcing is more like heavy chain links which are looped together in large rectangular sections like a mattress. These are thick steel links and is more of a strengthening reinforcement acting as a layer.

    Tordbar and Tangbar are irregular shaped and twisted into spirals from flat strip. When twisted they present a constantly changing shape at every point you hit them, and always at an angle which makes cutting difficult. Hence its more a deflector than for strength. I confused things by calling the Mattresses spiral where it's more the Tord/Tangbar that are spiral.

    the whole plot seems amazing they managed to pull it off chubby, but with regard to getting the gear in there, one thing in their favour was the Easter weekend. Apparently even that area of London was dead at the time.

    large fixed industrial machinery like lathes and presses are 3-phase but isn't portable site equipment normally 110V here in the UK?

  5. #25
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    Dec 2009
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    Country: United States

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chubby View Post
    They must have also known where they could tap into 3 phase- or have taken a generator with them.
    The Hilti DD350 operates on 240 Volts, 15 Amps, single phase according to the US operating manual.

  6. #26
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    Dec 2009
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    Country: United States

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    Law enforcement is now admitting they ignored an alarm --

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...der-alarm.html

    CCTV video is available:

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...-watch-5496077

  7. #27
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    Country: Wales

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    It's not looking good is it.. There's likely to be a few heads roll over this and fingers pointed in all directions.

    With regard to electric supply, domestic mains is 230—240V here in the UK, totally different to the 415v 3-phase supply used in industry.

    But, for the construction and service industry, apart from cordless battery tools, which were allowed, 110V CTE was normally used for portable site equipment, and became compulsory even for locksmiths and safe engineers for on-site works. I completed countless declaration papers for contract work undertaken for large companies who insisted on it.

    seems like the rulings changed yet again though as part of a European ruling. Apparently 230V equipment is again permissible for on site use provided it is used with RCD protection. Apparently it come about as a result of increased volume of workers from Europe working in Britain and bringing their 230V equipment with them.

    Im guessing this is the explanation for the Hilti DD350 being 230v and not 110v as would have been the norm a few years back.
    It certainly did the job anyway..

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
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    184
    Country: Great Britain

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    Smell a rat with this raid to be honest. OK one alarm actuation was not responded to by the Police (whoops) but come on with the multi layers of technical security employed in that building it will not have ended with one dial out alarm call and if it did who reset it ? Which one person had the dual reset codes ? No. Its like having a two key safe and giving one person both of them, wouldnt / shouldnt happen. A disabled system during closed hours needs authorisation and attendance of middle managers until reset & secured (hang on perhaps they were there !!!!)

    And that only deals with the response alarm. I bet there were at least two others.

    Wonder how often the insurers actually inspect place like that to make sure they come up to standard ?

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
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    65
    Country: New Zealand

    Default Alarms

    Yes the Alarm situation does not seem quite right.
    With the alarm systems that most of our customers are required to have for insurance purposes the following chain of events would occur.
    The alarm is set off.
    The monitoring station would bring up the site on their screens and inspect the cameras.
    The customer would receive an alert, and on their smartphone inspect the cameras.
    A guard would be dispatched whatever the case was.
    Most of the guard companies guarantee they will be onsite within 10 minutes and are contracted accordingly.
    If applicable the police will be sent with the relevant information.
    Either way a number of people will attend quickly.
    If it is an alarm fault the techs will be advised to attend and remedy, or if they cannot remedy at the time , static guards remain until the situation is sorted.
    In these days of technology I struggle with such a crew being onsite for 3 days.

  10. #30
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    Dec 2009
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    Country: United States

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    One of the media reports claimed the business was in the process of switching over to a new alarm system but it wasn't quite ready. This might have dictated when the burglary was to occur. I would hope that if this is true, the old system was still fully functional. It might also indicate inside information and/or inside participation. We'll have to wait and see.

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