Service Oriented Officers Ensure Office Park’s Serenity

Few office complexes evoke the beauty of their surroundings like The Water Garden in Santa Monica, CA. The 17-acre campus offers 1.3 million square feet of class-A office space in the midst of a pristine park-like setting, complete with tree-lined paths, multiple fountains and a large lake with water features inside the lake.

The Water Gardens was named International Office Building of the Year by the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) in 2005. Needless to say, it is fully leased.

The complex offers a multitude of services for its 75 tenants totaling over 3,000 employees including on-site childcare, banking services, a fitness center as well as several restaurants.  Located in a primarily residential neighborhood, the campus attracts neighbors from the communities of Bel Air, Beverly Hills and Malibu as well as foreign visitors. 

To help ensure the safety of their tenants and property, The Water Garden depends on a team of 32 Securitas officers to provide 24/7 coverage.   Core services include manning the lobbies and loading docks, running patrols, and overseeing access controls and surveillance equipment.  Securitas officers also coordinate with building management to conduct fire and life safety drills and CPR training for the campus population.  Two officers are dedicated specifically to the subterranean three-level parking lot, where they provide escorts and even direct traffic as needed.

 “They do a great job,” says General Manager Christa Duggan. “We are very happy with the officers’ professionalism and expertise as well as their customer service skills.  That is very important to us as they are our buildings’ ambassadors.”

Given the high profile and prestige of the complex, Securitas has designed a site-specific training protocol to ensure their officers are providing the highest level of customer service.  These specialized courses include dealing with difficult customers, handling the media and telephone communications.

Duggan meets with her account manager every two weeks to address any concerns or security incidents and has been happy with the support, reassurance and responsiveness she’s received.  Recently, Duggan had to contend with a potential strike from one of the maintenance labor unions after contract negotiations broke down.  Securitas brought in five additional officers as backup, and the onsite manager coordinated with local police to make sure protestors could exercise their first amendment rights without damaging the property or disrupting tenants.  The Securitas area vice president also arrived on site to provide support for Duggan.  While she says that there wasn’t much he could do as far as preventing a strike, “he was here to provide support and it was much appreciated.”

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