# Construction Site Security: Theft & Trespass | Go Security

> Industry estimates put UK construction theft at around £800m to over £1bn a year. How to stop theft, trespass and metal theft with guarding and CCTV towers.

Source: https://gosecurity.uk/blog-construction-site-security.html

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Sector Focus

# Construction site security: stopping theft, trespass and metal theft

Published 12 September 2026 · 6 min read

Construction sites are among the hardest places to protect and among the most targeted. Open perimeters, valuable plant and materials, and predictable quiet periods make them a magnet for thieves. The scale is stark: theft is estimated to cost the UK construction industry **around £800 million to over £1 billion a year**, according to industry estimates.

## What's being stolen, and why it hurts

The losses go far beyond the value of the items themselves:

- **Metal**, particularly copper cable and lead, remains a persistent target because it is easy to strip and sell on.
- **Tools and plant**, which are easy to resell and rarely recovered.
- **Materials**, from timber to fuel, which are almost never recovered once gone.

Every theft brings knock-on costs too: project delays, hire of replacement equipment, higher insurance premiums, and the safety risks created when intruders access a live site.

On a construction site, the real cost of theft is rarely the stolen item. It is the days lost, the deadlines missed and the premiums that follow.

## How to protect a construction site properly

Effective site security layers deterrence, detection and response:

- **Solar CCTV towers** give rapidly deployed, monitored overwatch of open ground with no mains power needed, ideal for the wide perimeters construction sites present. See our guide to [towers versus manned guarding](https://gosecurity.uk/blog-manned-guarding-vs-cctv-towers.html).
- **Manned guarding and access control** to manage gates, deliveries and personnel during working hours.
- **Mobile patrols and keyholding** to cover nights, weekends and shutdown periods when sites are most exposed.
- **POD alarms and rapid alerts** for instant notification the moment a perimeter is breached.

Through our sister company [GO CCTV](https://gocctv.co.uk), we also provide scaffold-mounted detection and construction timelapse, purpose-built for active builds.

## Why Go Security

We protect construction sites across the UK with SIA-licensed officers, K9 support where needed, and solar-powered CCTV towers monitored around the clock through an NSI Gold accredited monitoring centre. Every officer is on PAYE and [BS 7858-vetted](https://gosecurity.uk/blog-bs-7858-vetting.html), so you know exactly who is on your site.

### Protect your site before the next break-in

Book a free security audit and we'll design a layered plan matched to your site, phase and budget.

[Book a Free Audit](https://gosecurity.uk/security-audit.html)

Cost figures are drawn from published UK construction-industry theft estimates and are cited as sector context; actual losses vary by site and project.

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