Security expert Abloy UK has supplied the Design Museum in Kensington, London, with over 56 PROTEC2 CLIQ electromechanical cylinders to secure doors within the building and form part of a security system that protects high value assets and exhibits.

The Design Museum is an innovative new exhibition centre showcasing a number of design features. The building is 10,000 square metres with over 100 staff working at any given time in the building’s three galleries, restaurant, café and events space.

The museum opened to the public in November 2016 and required a new master key system within the schedule. The Design Museum’s construction company recommended Abloy for the specification due to the company’s excellent reputation for supplying master key systems within the museums and heritage sector.

There are a number of different contractors on site every day and the security team were having to escort visitors around the site 

Electro-mechanical access control system

Abloy were asked to specify two options - a solely mechanical solution and PROTEC2 CLIQ, an electro-mechanical solution. PROTEC2 CLIQ is an easy-to-use access control system based on mechanical high-security disc cylinders combined with highly encrypted electronic locking and identification. 

CLIQ was selected over the mechanical option as this gave the museum more flexibility to change access, whilst eliminating the need to change cylinders. There are a number of different contractors on site every day and the security team were having to escort visitors around the site, which was proving very time consuming. 

Encrypted electronic locking mechanism

The CLIQ software was installed in the control room and the cylinders secured doors, allowing access only to areas personnel were authorised to enter. This gave the flexibility to change access without jeopardising security. For example, if a master key was lost on a mechanical system they would have had to replace cylinders as well as keys which would have been costly, but CLIQ eliminated this risk.

Abloy worked closely with the architect and construction company to obtain information of door sizes and quantities and also highlighted compliance requirements to ensure the installation met British Standards.

Brian Reeves, Head of Facilities at the Design Museum, said: “We felt that a traditional cylinder locking system wouldn’t work for us, because if keys were lost we’d have to replace the whole suite. By using CLIQ, we can just replace the lost key or cancel access.” 

CLIQ gives the Design Museum extra functionality over a mechanical system"

Cloud-based access control

The system also allows us to audit access, giving us more granular control over the building. Any company that has a complex structure with different access requirements or a high turnover of staff would benefit from the CLIQ system.

Lisa O’Flynn, CNI Account Manager at Abloy UK, added: “CLIQ gives the Design Museum extra functionality over a mechanical system. As well as being able to change access rights, the system offers audit trails, and can be integrated with other cloud-based solutions for control via one central management programme.

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