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Reliable access management for famous film location

Royal Connaught Park is a former Edwardian school converted into a gated residential development of luxury apartments. Previously, the location has been used for films such as Monty Python’s Life of Brian, The Avengers and Harry Potter. In the famous fantasy movie series, it was Royal Connaught Park’s dining hall that was transformed into the Hogwarts Great Hall, where students gathered for sorting ceremonies and Halloween dinners.

The residential development in Hertfordshire is using Paxton10 access control and video management system to offer remote management of their underground car park, installed by Harlow-based Gamma Systems.

The Royal Connaught Park features a private swimming pool, health and fitness suite, outdoor tennis court and onsite parking, with over 100 residents coming and going every day.

The development covers 100 acres of parkland, so their facility team wanted an access control system that offers a remote-management feature to save time in going to each residential block. Taking into consideration the apartments’ high-quality branding and premium décor, the team looked for aesthetic and durable options to meet the requirements.

A Paxton solution

Andrew Barrs, Servicing and Maintenance Coordinator at Gamma Systems, the installation company, said, “Originally, we looked at a GSM system, but because the location is in an underground car park, the phone signal was really poor, and it just did not work properly.”

A Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system sends signals and communicates with mobile phone towers to grant access to users over a phone, as opposed to Paxton10 where the door controller is networked, communicating over IP and avoiding the use of phone signal.

Barrs continues, “A couple of days before that installation, I was on a Paxton10 training course. When we found out the GSM system did not work well in an underground area, I thought of the Paxton training and Paxton10. Its web-based nature and features, like remote management, would be very helpful on this site, so I recommended to my customer.”

This was Barrs’ first Paxton10 installation. With the support of his team of experienced engineers, he found Paxton10 seamless to install and simple to configure. “The Paxton10 installation process is all self-explanatory. Our team just did it without realising we had done it because it is so easy to do.”

Currently, Paxton10 is securing five car park entrances at the Royal Connaught Park, with over 100 users on the system. If the site manager needs to add extra users, they can programme the key fobs on site. Barrs also introduced the licence-free Bluetooth smart credentials with Paxton10, should a resident prefer to use their smartphone or smartwatch to access the car park. This is available to them at no cost.

To ensure the customer enjoys the best experience with their service and Paxton10, Gamma Systems provides system maintenance and technical support, like programming key fobs or issuing smartphone access.

The result

The system manager at Royal Connaught Park has used Paxton10 for nearly a year at the time of writing this case study. They are happy with the system and its ease of use.

Paul Mcevoy, Site Manager at Royal Connaught Park, said, “The Paxton10 system is fantastic. It is really easy to programme, and the system works great.”

Gamma Systems has also installed a few Paxton10 cameras on site, maximising Paxton10’s functionality of combining access control and video management on one platform. This allows a more comprehensive and intuitive access control experience for Royal Connaught Park. There is also a potential plan to expand Paxton10 to the other 14 blocks in the estate, which will allow the system administrator to manage all the car parks in the development on one system.

Number of users/doors

• 111 users.

• Five doors.

Solution required

• Remote management.

• Stable signal in an underground site.

• Easy programming of varying user access.

• Potential to integrate with video management and other systems.

Result

• Reliable access control system.

• Remote programming of user access cards.

• Scalable solution for future expansion.

Paxton products used

• Paxton10 Server.

• Paxton10 Desktop Reader.

• Paxton10 Door Controllers (12V 2A PSU).

• Paxton10 Vandal Resistant Readers.

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