Short answer: Hawthorne installs and maintains commercial CCTV, intruder alarms, access control and BS 5839 fire detection in Cambridge, travelling from our Norwich base along the A11. We have no Cambridge office. What we bring to the city is experience of the problems that come up here: laboratories that need door-by-door audit records, listed buildings that cannot take trunking on every wall, and shared student houses that must meet licensing conditions for fire detection.
Indicative prices for Cambridge
Before a survey, commercial CCTV usually falls into one of three bands:
- Small system, 1 to 10 cameras: £1,500 to £3,000
- Medium system, 10 to 25 cameras: £3,500 to £7,500
- Large system, 25 cameras and above: £10,000 to £20,000 or more
Alarm monitoring starts from around £349 a year. For fire, intruder and access control ranges, use the pricing calculator. Cambridge sits inside our standard Cambridgeshire coverage, and travel is included in installation quotes.
Cambridge sites and what they need
Science and innovation parks. Cambridge Science Park and St John's Innovation Park on the northern edge of the city (CB4), and Cambridge Research Park out at Waterbeach, house firms whose buildings are shared between tenants and whose value sits in instruments, prototypes and data. The usual brief is networked access control with per-door permissions and exportable logs, cameras on entrances and loading areas, and an EN 50131 Grade 3 intruder alarm where the insurer rates the contents highly.
Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Around Addenbrooke's (CB2), research and clinical organisations run controlled areas: containment labs, controlled drug stores, freezer rooms and suites that only named staff may enter. Access control has to show who went in and when, and cameras must cover entry points without looking into workstations, screens or patient areas. We plan those zones room by room with the client's safety or compliance lead.
Colleges and the University estate. Much of the historic centre is listed or inside a conservation area. On college and University property, work is normally agreed with the estates or buildings team, and fixings into historic fabric may need listed building consent before anyone drills. Wireless fire and intruder devices, cable routes through existing voids and camera positions that keep clear of principal elevations all reduce the amount of consent needed.
Retail. Grand Arcade, the Grafton and the independent shops around Market Hill and Mill Road need cameras that give usable images at tills and doors, and intruder alarms that set reliably after late trading. Units inside managed centres also have to fit the centre's own security and fire strategy, so we check the landlord's requirements at survey.
Student and shared housing. Cambridge has a large stock of shared houses let to students and early-career researchers, plus purpose-built student blocks. Houses in multiple occupation are generally covered by BS 5839-6, where the grade (such as Grade D1 or Grade A) and category (LD1 to LD3) depend on storeys, layout and the licence conditions set by Cambridge City Council. Purpose-built blocks usually have a BS 5839-1 system in the common parts, with individual flats treated as the building's fire strategy sets out.
Trade and distribution. Warehouses and trade counters near the A14 and the M11 junctions south of the city need perimeter cameras, gate control and out-of-hours monitoring. See commercial CCTV and remote CCTV monitoring.
Standards, police and fire service
Fire detection in non-domestic buildings follows BS 5839-1:2025, with six-monthly servicing and certificates on the current forms; our commercial fire alarm systems page and BS 5839 compliance guide go into detail. Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service sets its own policy on attending automatic fire alarm calls, and we confirm the current position with the service during design rather than assume it, because it decides what monitoring and your on-site procedure need to do.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary issues URNs for intruder alarms installed by an inspectorate-certified company, graded to EN 50131 and signalling confirmed alarms to a receiving centre. Hawthorne is SSAIB registered (NORF034) and makes the URN application during installation. For monitored camera systems that trigger on detection, BS 8418 is the design standard. See intruder alarms.
University and lab IT teams nearly always ask how cameras and door controllers will sit on their network. Hawthorne holds Cyber Essentials, and we agree network segregation, firmware updates and any remote access with your IT team before a device is connected.
How the work runs from Norwich
A survey comes first, followed by an itemised quote that names the panel, recorder, readers and detectors. Our own engineers install and commission; we do not subcontract Cambridge jobs to a local firm. Afterwards a maintenance contract covers planned visits, certificate renewals and a fault response time written into the agreement. Accreditations: SSAIB, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, Cyber Essentials, SafeContractor, Hikvision Platinum Partner, Paxton Gold Partner and Ajax Approved Installer.
Frequently asked questions
Are you based in Cambridge?
No. Our office and engineers are at Hellesdon Business Park in Norwich (NR6), and Cambridge is covered as part of our standard Cambridgeshire area. We do not claim a local address we do not have.
Can you install fire and security systems in a listed building?
Yes. We use wireless devices where they suit, route cables through existing voids, and provide a device schedule and fixing details that the building owner can use for a listed building consent application where one is needed.
What fire alarm does a Cambridge student HMO need?
Most shared houses fall under BS 5839-6. The grade and category depend on the number of storeys, the layout and the conditions on the HMO licence from Cambridge City Council. Send us the licence schedule and we will design to it.
Can access control give a lab the audit trail it needs?
Yes. Paxton systems log every door event against a named credential, apply time-based permissions to controlled rooms, and export reports for audits and investigations.
What response time do Cambridge customers get?
It is set in the maintenance contract and agreed before you sign, based on how critical the system is. Monitored alarms and cameras are watched 24/7 by the receiving centre wherever the site is.
Do you work outside the city?
Yes. The research campuses south of Cambridge, including Granta Park, Babraham and the Wellcome Genome Campus at Hinxton, are within reach, as is the rest of the county. See our Cambridgeshire page for Peterborough, Ely, Huntingdon and the Fens.
Get a Cambridge quote
Use the pricing calculator for a range, or get in touch to book a survey. Other pages: Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norwich and Ipswich.
About the author
Dr Andrew Threadgold is Co-Owner of Hawthorne and leads its commercial side. Hawthorne's engineering team checked the technical content of this page.
About Hawthorne
Hawthorne is a commercial security and fire protection company at Unit 8 Alston Road, Hellesdon Business Park, Norwich NR6 5DS. It traded as Security Solutions Yes (SSY) until its acquisition in December 2024 and adopted the Hawthorne name in January 2026. Call 01603 425100.
Last updated: September 2026