Great Places Housing Group has added two further staff supported housing complexes, for residents more than 65, to its portfolio, secured with access control and surveillance supplied by Norbain.
Great Places Housing Group has added two further staff supported housing complexes, for residents more than 65, to its portfolio, secured with access control and surveillance supplied by Norbain.
Costing more than US$15 million, the new developments in Blackpool aim to transform perceptions of affordable housing for older people and offer the independence of a self-contained apartment, alongside security and peace of mind for residents.
Taylor Bros Installations provided the electronic security for the sites. "During the design of the two sites, we reviewed the way residents and visitors access this type of facility,” said Amran Rashid, ICT Network Infrastructure Manager for Great Places Housing Group. “From previous experience, we knew that if a key-based system was used, a contractor or visitor issued with a key could access all areas of a site. That's why we looked at access control, to ensure flexibility and management of who has access to particular areas and at what times of day."
Taylor Bros installed a networked access control system and magnetic door locking to more than 120 doors across the two Blackpool schemes. Each door is connected via Great Places' own IT infrastructure back to a central control room at the company's head office, where administration is facilitated via access control management. Each site also features a PC terminal in the reception office, where the software allows local administration.
Adding, barring and changing users' access permissions on a per-door basis can be progressed either onsite or directly from Great Places' head office, providing maximum operational flexibility.
Commenting on the success of the installations, which have been accredited with the “Secured by Design” standard, "While the technology employed has proved effective and intuitive to use, it's also unobtrusive to daily life, enabling residents to enjoy their new homes safe in the knowledge that they are being protected by the latest security infrastructure," said Ryan Johnston, PM at Taylor Bros.