Bridgewater High School in Warrington has benefited from Paxton access control and Panasonic surveillance solution supplied by Norbain and installed by Elite Digital Systems.
Bridgewater High School in Warrington has benefited from Paxton access control and Panasonic surveillance solution supplied by Norbain and installed by Elite Digital Systems.
Comprising two open sites, Bridgewater High is a specialist arts college that includes a 6th Form building. Sharing its grounds with a community leisure center, controlling access to the school had become increasingly difficult and labor-intensive. "We wanted to meet our new safeguarding responsibilities and needed a technological solution to the problem of our existing door access control, or lack of it," said Barry Edwards, Premises Manager for Bridgewater High.
Placing the project out to tender, the bid was won by Elite Digital Systems. "Elite's tender package comprised a total of 28 access controlled doors, all controlled through a networked Paxton access control system and magnetic door locking," Edwards said.
Communicating over the school's own network infrastructure, Elite provided Paxton access control software to provide full system control from any PC, allowing Edwards to assign both individual users and doors with unique priorities.
The new installation uses HID card readers to solve the school's complicated access priorities. "We can program certain doors to automatically unlock during high-flow periods, such as lesson changeover times. Additionally, the school is used for many night classes that take place out of hours. Taking advantage of the IP-based access control and surveillance systems, we plan to expand its use so that we can control and adjust system parameters from remote off-site computers, essentially, to further maximize our resources and time," Edwards said.
"It's important that we deliver the best mix of technology for each application, solving each site's security issues, and without impacting on the daily operation of the business. Norbain have provided product support on this and other projects," said Ian Duncanson of Elite.
Also installed, a Panasonic surveillance system provides an instant overview of the school's grounds. Consisting of 37 cameras, the system utilizes Panasonic all-weather and vandal-resistant dome cameras. The camera network is recorded via a Panasonic DVR, with images transmitted via the school's IT infrastructure to six key points around the site.
"From his office, Barry can perform a ‘virtual tour' of the grounds at both sites, a task that used to absorb significant manpower and time, but now takes only a matter of minutes thanks to the comprehensive surveillance system," said Buzz Coates, Norbain's branded surveillance manager. "With the best of both access control and electronic surveillance solutions at work at the school, Bridgewater High is a shining example of how harnessing the latest electronic security technologies can provide a safe and secure learning environment for children of all ages."