| Honeywell and SecureWais provide remote monitoring solution for Aldermary House |
Aldermary House is a modern multi-tenanted, multi-story office building located in the City of London's "Square Mile" financial district. Aldermary is part of the office portfolio of the Australian diversified property group - Stockland Ventures.
The situation
Multi-tenanted buildings are prone to a myriad of security risks, access issues and periods where the building is completely empty.
Aldermary House is home to eight different businesses, each operating on separate floors within the building. Visitors would buzz the intercom, be granted entry by a security guard at the main reception desk where they would sign in, and then be able to visit a tenanting company.
Brian Weekes, Building Manager at Aldermary House was faced with complex security challenges and as a result used a 24 hour manned guard solution to ensure the building was secure at all times. "A manned guarding contract was the best solution available to us at the time, however it was costly and difficult to manage," commented Weekes. "It was a constant challenge knowing exactly who was in the building at any one time."
Weekes approached his security partner, SecureWais UK Ltd to find a new and improved solution that would alleviate the heavy financial costs and inefficiency associated with manned guarding. It is estimated that Aldermary House was spending in the region of £40,000-50,000 per annum on out of hours manned guarding.
The solution
Having carefully assessed the requirement, SecureWais proposed the installation of a new integrated access control, video and intercom "Meet & Greet" system which would transform the way people would enter and leave Aldermary House and still meet security requirements.
SecureWais proposed the installation of a new integrated access control, video and intercom "Meet & Greet" system |
The system was fully installed over a period of two weeks with no resulting disruption to the client. An important element in the system design was for the access, intercom and video to be remotely monitored at a secure control room. This alleviated the need for a control room onsite and reduce costly manned guarding contracts.
To address the visitor management issues faced by Weekes during out of hour's periods, an outstation was installed by SecureWais to the external façade of the building adjacent to the main entrance. Upon arrival, the visitor presses the call button and is immediately connected to the SecureWais National Security Institute (NSI) approved call centre.
The call centre has audio and video communications with Aldermary House. When activated, the call centre operative asks the visitor a set of questions before contacting the relevant host. This could be the office manager of the given tenant. Once contacted, the host provides authorisation and the visitor is granted entry. Then the call centre terminates the site link and the SecureWais "Meet & Greet" service is completed. To close the loop, a video recording is kept on the Digital Video Recorder (DVR).
The building / security management team remain in complete control of the access control card administration but do so by emailing the SecureWais office to have cards added or deleted remotely. Database reports are available at any time.
To provide this critical service and solve the challenges faced by Weekes, SecureWais chose Honeywell WIN-PAK™ PRO Central Station.
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| Honeywell WIN-PAK™ PRO Central Station is a departure from traditional access control systems |
The total cost of ownership is reduced to a manageable service fee, which results in the end-user benefiting from lower maintenance costs, lower guarding costs and peace of mind that visitor management and building entry is controlled at all times. The system at Aldermary House consists of the Honeywell N1000 Access Panel, several proximity readers within the elevator and on selected doors integrated with video and door entry intercom.
"We have used Honeywell solutions for many years and had very little hesitation in recommending the WIN-PAK PRO Central Station as the correct solution for Aldermary House," said Allan Waisman, CEO SecureWais.
The benefits
The building is now completely secure without the need for any manned guarding after hours. This has resulted in the client saving over £40,000 per annum using a remote central monitoring solution.
The Building Manager has full records of who has entered and left the building at all times. From a customer service perspective tenanted businesses within Aldermary House have a much improved visitor management process. And it will ultimately help Aldermary House to attract new tenants and help with lease renewals. Brian Weekes, The Building Manager at Aldermary House commented: "The beauty of the system is its simplicity," added Weekes. "I can control the front doors remotely and know exactly who is in the building at any given time. This has been achieved by the expertise of SecureWais and Honeywell working together."
SecureWais chose Honeywell |
The benefits of the WIN-PAK PRO Central Station far outweigh the next best alternatives for both the end-user and the installer. There is no software to install at site and minimal system training is required.
Many installer service calls are spent fixing computer related issues that develop from virus attacks, incompatibility with other programs and lack of database maintenance. WIN-PAK PRO Central Station does not require software installation at the end-user's location thus eliminating most service calls. This means peace of mind for the client and lets the installer concentrate on growing his business.
Badge production is of value to a client who wants the security of having printed photo-ID badges, but cannot justify the implementation cost due to the small number of badges required.
WIN-PAK PRO Central Station allows the installer to offer his clients full photo-ID badge production with minimal investment since the installer can spread the cost of the printer across multiple accounts. Combined with the web browser interface, the service becomes even easier; images can be uploaded via the web and are instantly retrieved by the installer.
WIN-PAK PRO Central Station also offers seamless integration for monitoring a customer's digital video system. Operators can monitor live video from up to 16 different accounts at a time. They can pan, tilt and zoom cameras from any account. Remote monitoring also includes Visual Video Verification, which allows a live image to be compared to a stored database image of an individual before access is granted.
"We have used Honeywell solutions for many years and had very little hesitation in recommending the |
Customers can also access their account from any enabled web browser. The web browser allows customers to add or remove users and generate their own reports.
"The functionality of WIN-PAK PRO Central Station was appealing to the client in this instance," said Waisman. "They get the best of both worlds - the control and secure integrity of a state of the art access / visitor management system without any of the hassle of managing it on a daily basis as this is done remotely by SecureWais."
Partner of choice:
SecureWais UK Ltd is a specialist security company first established in South Africa in 1989 by the present CEO - Allan Waisman. SecureWais specialise in custom built integrated security systems including Entryphone, CCTV, Intruder Alarms and Access Control. They can install new systems to suit specific needs and requirements or take over maintenance and servicing arrangements. SecureWais security systems currently provide peace of mind integrated solutions to a property portfolio valued in excess of £12 billion in eight jurisdictions around the world.
"Our great strength is that we are NSI accredited and therefore we are able to undertake all aspects of the design, installation and maintenance ourselves without the need to outsource any function to others," stated Waisman.
