Ardent helps Countryside become first UK developer to widely adopt artificial intelligence proximity cameras

Ardent has worked with Countryside, the UK’s leading mixed-tenure developer, to implement artificial intelligence proximity cameras across its sites – the first UK developer to do so.

Working in collaboration with Safety Shield Global and Ardent Hire Solutions, all forklift telehandlers across Countryside construction sites and factories will be fitted with these state-of-the-art cameras. The cameras will be able to detect a human shape at a distance of 1m from the sides and 3m from the rear; the alarms shall indicate inside and outside the vehicle and offer visual indicators for the driver.

This type of camera has been used across various industries for similar applications before, but this is the first time that these artificial intelligence cameras have been used extensively on housebuilding sites in the UK.

This process has been trialled and tested in 2020, and further developed to meet the specific needs of Countryside – the first member of the Home Building Federation (HBF) to proceed with this vision. 

Michelle Dearsley, Health and Safety Director, Countryside, commented: “At Countryside we are proud to adopt this safety initiative, we feel this is a major and important step forward involving new technology used to improve health and safety standards in the housebuilding sector.

“With the second highest number of fatalities in the construction sector in 2020 due to collisions with moving vehicles, the introduction of the proximity cameras on forklifts on all Countryside sites is a key stepping stone in preventing future accidents and keeping both our workforce and the community safe.”

Jeremy Fish, CEO at Ardent, adds, “In the last 2 years Ardent has made considerable investment into several innovations that are transforming safety on construction sites. Intelligent proximity cameras and our partnership with Safety Shield Global is a great example of this and we are delighted to be working with Countryside on this extremely important initiative.