Whanganui business Alarm Watch builds bunker with highest security clearance possible

Alarm Watch CEO Wade Coneybeer (far left) with (from left) managers Jade Johnston, Damien Hegley and Graeme McKenzie inside the bunker. Photo/ Bevan Conley

An unassuming Whanganui building houses a doomsday-style bunker where Alarm Watch staff monitor 35,000 alarms - the largest business of its kind in the country.

When the company’s current chief executive Wade Coneybeer started with the company in 2004, there was just one operator on a 12-hour shift and the set-up was more casual.

You could monitor the alarms while watching the cricket on TV.

“Who’s monitoring your alarm if that person needs to go to the toilet? That’s where we were for many years,” he said.

Now, there are 70 staff members who average 300 alarm events per hour and respond to 10,000 burglar alarms per week.

It hasn’t happened overnight, however.

Coneybeer said he once ordered every copy of the Yellow Pages in New Zealand to ring every possible alarm store and ask them to use their service.

Alarm Watch now has the highest possible A1 security grade status for Australia and New Zealand.

Achieving that required installing fog cannons, six-millimetre thick steel walls, fire-resistant GIB, and fitting CO2 monitors inside the bunker, which has no visibility to the outside world.

“Nothing should interrupt you, it’s not just to stop criminals, it’s also about getting generators, back-up servers and phone lines in different locations,” Coneybeer said.

So far, their investment in security has cost just over a quarter of a million dollars.

The growth of the business has also raised the stakes, as they now monitor major banks, government departments, fire and domestic violence alarms.

Being in the business for 20 years meant he had witnessed changes in the surveillance industry, Coneybeer said.

Cameras are becoming more accessible and Alarm Watch can now tell customers what is causing an alarm to go off in their garage, simply by watching the footage as the event is unfolding.

Staff have also seen an increase in commercial businesses and retail chains being targeted for crime.

“Most dairies or shops will have a panic alarm they can press with their foot,” Coneybeer said.

A big growth area in the market is lone worker alarms, such as for electricians working late-night jobs.

It can be a high-stress and high-pressure environment inside the bunker.

There are often multiple alarms going off at once that staff have to respond to, and the hiring process has been vital to the success of the business.

Neil and John Campbell began the business in 1999 for an additional stream of income during tough farming years.

As owners they were pretty hands-off and just checked in to make sure everything was ticking over, Coneybeer said.

“I think Alarm Watch pays for their hobby which is farming - that’s what I joke with them.”

Coneybeer said in the future, he hoped to move into the Australian market and “win over” every local Whanganui business.

“It’s a hidden success story, people just don’t realise what we do.”

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.