Key Stats
Unified video security and access control into one centralised dashboard at the Dunbar facility
Reduced reliance on on-premises NVR infrastructure at Dunbar
Streamlined the process for reviewing footage and responding to incidents
Improved visibility into site occupancy, PPE compliance, and vehicle movements
Background
Viridor is a UK-based resource recovery and energy company specialising in the conversion of non-recyclable residual waste into low-carbon energy. At its Energy Recovery Facility in Dunbar, Scotland, the company operates one of the country’s major waste-to-energy installations, processing approximately 390,000 tonnes of waste per year and generating enough energy to power the equivalent of more than 100,000 homes.
Operating a live industrial facility of this scale requires strong visibility, clear processes, and reliable information. With high-temperature incineration processes running continuously on-site, health and safety are central to daily operations. In the event of an emergency evacuation or fire muster, the ability to account for individuals quickly and accurately is an important part of maintaining a safe operating environment.
When Bryan Howarth joined Viridor as Head of Technology Transformation, the company was already focused on identifying opportunities to modernise technology across the business. At Dunbar, this included evaluating how physical security systems could better support operational visibility, incident response, and health and safety workflows.
“The opportunity was to think more strategically about how our physical security systems could support the business,” said Bryan. “We wanted a solution that was unified, scalable, and easier to manage.”
As part of that modernisation effort, Bryan and his team began evaluating platforms that could bring video security and access control together in a more consistent, cloud-managed environment.
The Challenge
Viridor wanted to strengthen how physical security supported day-to-day operations at Dunbar, with a focus on visibility, consistency, and ease of management. Three priorities shaped the evaluation.
First, Viridor wanted to make incident review more efficient. For teams managing a busy industrial facility, the ability to quickly access relevant footage and understand what happened during an event is important for safety reviews, operational follow-up, and stakeholder communication.
Second, the team wanted stronger visibility into key operational areas, including PPE compliance and vehicle movements across the site. Better video coverage and easier access to footage would help teams review activity with greater context and support more informed decision-making.
Third, Viridor wanted a clearer view of who was on-site at any given moment. At a facility where contractors, visitors, and permanent staff move throughout the site during the day, accurate occupancy information plays an important role in health and safety processes, including emergency roll calls.
“At a site like Dunbar, knowing who is on-site is an important part of how we manage health and safety,” said Bryan. “We wanted to give our teams better visibility and more confidence in the information available to them.”
By bringing video security and access control into a more unified system, Viridor saw an opportunity to support safer, more efficient operations at Dunbar.
The Solution
Following a structured evaluation, Viridor selected Verkada for its advanced capabilities, ease of use, and cloud-based management. Deployment at the Dunbar facility took place over five weeks, with the installation team working in sections to minimise disruption to ongoing plant operations. The rollout focused on three core capabilities: high-fidelity video security, integrated access control, and Verkada Command.
High-fidelity video security
Viridor deployed Verkada indoor and outdoor cameras across the Dunbar facility, giving operations managers improved visibility across key areas of the site.
The system allows authorised teams to review high-quality footage to support safety reviews, incident investigations, and operational follow-up. This helps teams understand events more clearly and respond with the appropriate context.
The cameras also provide visibility into vehicle movements across the site. This is especially valuable for tracking how long customer vehicles remain on-site, helping the commercial team manage situations where extended dwell times could result in fines.
Integrated access control
Viridor also consolidated access control at Dunbar onto the Verkada platform, creating a more streamlined way to manage credentials and site permissions.
Integration with Microsoft Entra ID allows access permissions to update in line with employee lifecycle events such as onboarding, role changes, and offboarding. This reduces manual administration and helps ensure access privileges remain aligned with each person’s role and employment status.
The deployment was also designed to support Viridor’s privacy and data protection expectations, with access managed through appropriate permissions and controls within the platform.
Verkada Command
Both video security and access control at Dunbar are managed through Verkada Command, Verkada’s cloud-based management platform. Authorised administrators can review footage, manage access permissions, and respond to events from a single centralised dashboard.
“Having video and access control in one place gives us a much clearer picture of what is happening on-site,” said Bryan. “It makes the system easier to manage and gives our teams the information they need more quickly.”
For a team responsible for a complex industrial site operating around the clock, this centralised approach helps improve visibility while reducing the administrative effort required to manage physical security operations.
The Results
Since deploying Verkada at Dunbar, Viridor has given authorised teams a more centralised way to review incidents, support health and safety processes, and manage physical security operations.
More efficient incident review
One of the most immediate benefits has been the ability to review incidents more efficiently. Authorised teams can now access relevant footage remotely through Verkada Command, helping them locate clips, understand what happened, and share information with the appropriate stakeholders.
Whether the issue involves a safety review, PPE compliance concern, or vehicle movement, teams can now access the context they need from a centralised platform.
Stronger health and safety oversight
Verkada has also helped Viridor improve visibility into health and safety processes at Dunbar.
With integrated access control, the team has a clearer view of site occupancy. In emergency scenarios such as fire evacuations, site managers can use access data to support roll calls and help account for individuals on-site.
For Dunbar, this gives teams another source of information to support safety-critical processes.
Reduced infrastructure and administrative overhead
By moving to Verkada’s cloud-managed architecture, Viridor has reduced reliance on on-premises NVR infrastructure at the Dunbar facility. This simplifies the technology environment and gives authorised administrators remote access to the tools they need.
The team can now review footage, manage access, and respond to events centrally, helping reduce the need for certain on-site administrative tasks.
Looking Ahead
With the Dunbar deployment now established, Viridor is planning to extend Verkada to additional sites, with two further locations in scope for the current calendar year and a third under survey.
The team is also exploring expanded use cases at Dunbar and future sites, including contractor hours tracking, environmental sensors, and more advanced alerting workflows developed in collaboration with Viridor’s health and safety team.
“Dunbar has given us a strong foundation for what we can do next,” said Bryan. “As we continue to build on the platform, we see more opportunities to support safety, visibility, and operational efficiency across the business.”