What an incident could cost a unit this size
The published £3,000–£5,000 per break-in is a small-business figure. A 42,368 sq ft warehouse carries more stock, more people and more disruption. The unit is also empty today, so the first scenario covers the landlord's exposure before it's let. Set the inputs to real figures and every scenario updates.
Cargo theft uses the UK average of about £12,700 per HGV and cargo incident (NaVCIS: £68.3m across 5,370 incidents in 2023). Fire uses Zurich's £5.9m average for large warehouse fires. Every other figure is an assumption shown on its card. Business interruption cover may pay part of the disruption, but not management time, client goodwill or lost contracts.
Recorded crime around the unit
Lancashire Constabulary publishes street-level crime, so this site has real data: 523 crimes in the 12 months to August 2026, within a square about 1 km across centred on the estate.
Within 300 m of the unit: 11 burglaries, 3 vehicle crimes, 5 other thefts, 2 damage offences and 5 anti-social behaviour reports.
Police data puts commercial and domestic crime together. The nearest hotspot to the estate, on Olde Back Lane about 85 m east, recorded 9 burglaries; police.uk doesn't say whether those were homes or businesses.
The biggest single cluster is the petrol station on Rossendale Road, about 450 m north: 130 shoplifting and 24 public order offences. It brings people and late activity to the estate entrance.
Potential loss on this site
What could be taken or destroyed, shown as navy diamonds on the map. While the unit is empty the exposure is the building itself; once let, it's the tenant's stock, vehicles and data.
New building fixtures, while empty
New electrics, cabling, lighting, roller-door motors and welfare fittings in an unoccupied unit, plus damage and clear-up.
B2 · P1Rent lost to delays
Damage or a break-in during marketing can push back the letting or the tenant's fit-out.
B2Tenant stock and equipment
Once occupied: stock, racking, forklifts and IT in 3,936 m² of open floor.
I1Customer and business data
Laptops, scanners and servers taken in a break-in can become a reportable data breach.
I2Vehicles, trailers and diesel
Vans and trailers parked in the open yard in front of the doors, and the fuel in their tanks.
I3 · P1Staff and visitor cars
Cars in the shared car park at the front of the unit.
P1
The visible cost
- Repairs to doors, windows and shuttersOften with an emergency boarding-up call-out first
- Stolen or damaged stock and fittingsUp to the policy limit, less the excess
- Clearing upStaff time, or contractors if the unit is empty, to make it safe again
The disruption underneath
- Lost productivityWork stops while the site is secured, checked and cleared
- Data breachStolen laptops or scanners holding customer data can trigger a breach report
- Staff moralePeople feel unsafe at work, especially on early and late shifts
- Senior managers pulled inPolice, insurers, contractors and customers take them off the day-to-day business
- Delayed deliveriesOrders miss their slot and customers feel it straight away
- Customer satisfaction and reviewsLate or missing orders show up in complaints and Google reviews
- Discounts and favoursCredits and free work to keep customers on side
- Higher premiums and excessesInsurance costs rise after a claim, more so after a repeat
The cover options
Each option set against what this unit needs: someone watching around the clock, and someone who goes to look when something happens.
Robot dogs don't read books, watch Netflix, play computer games, have lazy nights, sleep on the job or worry about the weather. They are proactive on patrol and reactive to every trigger. For an empty unit, the same kit protects the landlord during marketing and can stay on for the tenant.
What the cameras watch, 24/7
AI on fixed cameras checks every trigger in real time and escalates to a person. Shown as sky-blue wedges, C1–C6.
- People or vehicles at the unit out of hours, with false alarms from animals and weather filtered outP1 · B2
- Anyone leaving the public footpath towards the buildingA1
- Loitering in the car park or by the doors, and repeat visits over daysP1 · A4
- Number plates of every vehicle entering the yardP1 · A3
- Roller shutters and doors opened, forced or left openB1
- Fly-tipping and vehicles left overnight on the empty yardB2 · I3
- Heat and smoke on thermal cameras, without waiting for an alarmB2 · I1
- Spoken warnings through camera speakers, then the response team if the person staysDeterrent
What the robot dog inspects
A quadruped patrol robot docks at the unit, walks the building and yard, and goes to every camera trigger. Shown as the navy route.
- Goes to each trigger and streams HD and thermal video before anyone is sent outB2
- Walks the rear and side elevations, out of sight of the road and the car parkA1 · A2
- Tries both roller shutters and every door on its round and logs them as secureB1
- Checks under parked vans and trailers for fuel tank tamperingI3
- Thermal and smoke checks inside on night patrolsI1
- Challenges people with lights, siren and a live voice, and asks who they areDeterrent
- Logs fly-tipping, damage and leaks on the empty unit for the landlordB2
- Is seen: a robot on patrol, visible from the car park and the footpath, is itself a deterrentDeterrent
Security issues
Grouped by the four layers of the security onion, from the surrounding area inwards. Each ID matches a marker on the map. Priority is my assessment from the map, the agent's photos and the crime data; "Confirm" means it needs a site survey.
Area
Covered by AI insight on loitering and patterns over timePublic footpath through the estate
Public footpath Habergham Eaves FP3 runs along Farrington Place and down the west side of the unit, then on into open land to the south. Anyone can walk past the unit at any hour with a reason to be there.
Open fields to the south
Fields and scrub run right up to the back of the unit, with tracks and the footpath leading in. It's an unwatched approach on foot.
Fast route out via Rossendale Road
The A646 is about 260 m away and leads to M65 junctions 9 and 10. Good for the tenant, and for anyone leaving with stolen goods.
Crime hotspot at the estate entrance
The petrol station at the estate entrance recorded 130 shoplifting and 24 public order offences in 12 months, and Rossendale Road beside it 9 violent crimes.
Housing and schools close by
Streets to the east and north recorded most of the area's violence and anti-social behaviour, and three schools bring heavy footfall at set times.
Perimeter
Covered by cameras on the yard, car park and approachesOpen frontage with no gate or fence seen
The agent's photos show an open shared car park and yard in front of both roller shutters, with no gate, barrier or fence across the entrance. Vehicles can drive up to the doors at any time.
Lighting and existing cameras
Lamp columns are visible, but no cameras show on the building in the photos, and night lighting levels are unknown.
Building
Covered by door, shutter and intruder alarms feeding the AITwo roller shutters and doors on the open front
Both loading doors and the personnel doors face the open yard, reachable by vehicle.
Empty new build
An unoccupied unit attracts fly-tipping, unauthorised use of the yard, and theft of new fittings and cable. No alarm monitoring or keyholder is mentioned in the listing.
Office and welfare block still to be built
The office, WCs and mess room are to be built at the front. Glazing and doors there should be designed with security in mind now, while it's cheap to change.
Inside
Covered by the robot dog, voice concierge and internal camerasTenant stock and equipment
3,936 m² of open floor under 6 m eaves. What's stored depends on the tenant, but a full unit holds a lot of value behind two doors.
IT and customer data
A stolen laptop, scanner or server can become a reportable data breach, on top of the kit itself.
Vehicles parked in the open yard
Vans and trailers left in front of the unit overnight are exposed to theft, cargo theft and fuel drained from tanks.
Site survey: photos and video to collect
The agent's 14 photos cover the front elevation, car park, loading doors and interior. These items would confirm the rest. The navy labels on the map show where each area is.
| Area | What to capture | Have now | Confirms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site entrance | Whether a gate or barrier exists; video of the entrance at night | Partly | P1 |
| Front elevation and loading doors | Both shutters, locks, personnel doors | Agent photos | B1 |
| Car park and yard | Late-evening photo showing what's left overnight | Daytime only | P1 · I3 |
| Rear and side elevations | Walk-round video of the back and both sides | Needed | A1 · A2 |
| Footpath edge | Where the public footpath passes the unit, and any fencing between | Needed | A1 |
| Alarm keypad and panel | Position, whether it's monitored, keyholder | Needed | B2 |
| Lighting and existing CCTV | Which lights work at night; any estate or neighbour cameras | Needed | P2 |
| Planned office block | Drawings for the front office, glazing and doors | Needed | B3 |
Why the police can't be the plan
Bobbies on the beat used to patrol the streets. Now businesses struggle to get an officer out even to a confirmed crime: "Here's a crime number, claim off your insurance."
Police figures don't help a business judge its own risk either. Recorded crime puts commercial and domestic offences together, so a house burglary counts the same as a business being completely cleaned out.
| Site | Force | Crimes/month |
|---|---|---|
| Kammac, Warrington | Cheshire | 147–196 |
| Unit 6, Farrington Place, Burnley | Lancashire | 79–115 |
| Mac Logistics, Speke | Merseyside | 32–73 |
| Kammac Jupiter, Knowsley | Merseyside | 36–54 |
| Kammac, Preston | Lancashire | 14–38 |