Industry
Apartments and multi unit residential
Most apartment blocks lose control at three doors: the entrance that gets propped open, the gate a guard opens by hand, and the back of house rooms nobody locked. This is the scope we write for that building type, and the order we recommend building it. We supply installers and consultants, and we install directly when a client prefers that. The scope is the same either way. Doors keep working through power cuts on battery backup, and residents can use their phones instead of cards that get lent to people who do not live there.
Three things we do differently, and why they matter
None of these cost extra to get right at design stage. All three are expensive to correct once the building is occupied.
Pulling the reader off the wall does not open the door
The part that releases the lock sits inside a locked cabinet in the plant room, not inside the box on the wall outside the door. On plenty of installations it is the other way round, which makes the reader itself the way in.
Your residents' cards cannot be copied off the cable
The link between the reader and the panel is encrypted, so someone who reaches the wiring cannot record a valid card and use it later. The older standard, Wiegand, sends the card number in the clear. It is still common on the systems we get asked to look at.
We do not drill your glass doors
Toughened glass cannot be drilled without putting the pane at risk, and a cracked entrance door becomes a replacement and an argument about who pays. We clamp the lock to the top and bottom edges instead. The glass is untouched and the hardware comes off cleanly at the next refurbishment.
What we build it on
Two manufacturers, three parts. We use them because they support the decisions above rather than work around them.
ICT tSec readers
The readers at most doors. Cards and phones on one reader, talking to the controller over encrypted RS-485 or OSDP with Secure Channel, so the credential on the cable cannot be copied.
ICT Protege WX
The controller in the plant room. Access, alarm and automation on one controller, so the back of house alarm and the entrance doors are one system with one record instead of two that do not talk to each other. It is managed from its built-in web interface, with no server to maintain.
Suprema
Fingerprint or face terminals where a door needs more than a card, such as a management office or a gym, rather than on every entrance. Each connects to Protege with a third-party reader licence, which is quoted per door.
We choose models per door once we have the schedule. Weather exposure, credential type and how busy the door is decide the reader. The door count decides the controller.
The written scope
We turn all of it into a written scope: what is included, what is excluded, the assumptions behind it, and the questions we need answered before it can be priced. Every system is commissioned with individual administrator accounts, a defined period for keeping access records, and a card or PIN option for anyone who declines biometric enrolment, which is what data protection compliance expects.
Included
- ✓ ICT tSec readers at each controlled door for cards and phones, with Suprema fingerprint or face terminals where a door needs biometrics
- ✓ ICT Protege WX controller and door expansion hardware, mounted in a lockable cabinet
- ✓ All lock release relays inside the cabinet, never behind the reader
- ✓ Encrypted RS-485 or OSDP Secure Channel wiring between readers and controller
- ✓ Protege third-party reader licence for each Suprema terminal, where biometric doors are specified
- ✓ Mobile credentials for residents who want them, so a card cannot be lent to someone who does not live there
- ✓ Electric locking hardware selected per leaf type, including glass door clamps where the leaf is frameless
- ✓ Dedicated power supplies with battery backup sized for the door count
- ✓ Door position and request to exit devices where the door schedule requires them
- ✓ Emergency break glass release on every controlled escape route door
- ✓ Credential enrolment, access level design, individual administrator accounts and handover training for the building manager
- ✓ Escape route doors unlock on a fire alarm signal from the fire panel output
Not included
- ✕ Civil work, coring, chasing and making good
- ✕ Containment, conduit, trunking and trays
- ✕ Structured cabling backbone and network switching outside the access control cabinet
- ✕ Door leaves, frames and closers where existing hardware is not suitable
- ✕ Intercom and video entry, quoted separately once the entrance design is fixed
- ✕ Fire alarm interface cabling on the fire panel side
- ✕ Any recurring software or portal subscription, which is quoted separately and stated on its own line
- ✕ Statutory approvals and landlord fit out consents
What we will ask you
Eight questions decide an apartment block quote. Answer as many as you can in the form below or on WhatsApp, and the first number we send will be close to the final one.
- How many doors do you want controlled, and which of them are on an escape route?
- How many units and how many residents will hold a credential?
- Do you want cards, phones, fingerprint, face, or a mix?
- Is the entrance leaf frameless glass, timber, or a metal frame?
- Do you have a vehicle gate, and is it existing or new?
- Where is the comms room or meter room the controller can live in?
- Who manages the building day to day and who will hold the administrator account?
- Do you need visitor and contractor access recorded, or residents only?
Talk to us about this building
Whether you are quoting this for a client or you own the building, start the same way. Tell us about it and we come back with questions or a quote.
Quoting this for a client?
A trade account gets you project pricing, a check on your specification before you order, and support during commissioning.
What a trade account includes →Where this applies in the building
Five points decide whether a residential block is controlled or only looks it. Tap a number to see why.
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1
Pedestrian entrance
The door everyone props open. Control it and the building stops relying on residents to police each other.
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2
Vehicle gate
Opened by hand today. On the same system, a tenant who leaves loses vehicle and pedestrian access in one action.
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3
Lift core and stair access
Stops a visitor who reached the lobby from reaching every floor.
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4
Plant, meter and refuse rooms
The back of house doors nobody locked. Cheap to add once the cable route to the controller exists.
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5
Roof plant and perimeter
Last. Gate automation, lighting and remote monitoring go on once the layers below are in.
The diagram is illustrative. Your door schedule decides what gets controlled and in what order.
Which parts to do first
Residential developments rarely need everything at once. This is the order we recommend, because each stage makes the next one cheaper to add.
- 1
Access control first
Who gets in is the problem residents actually feel. Control the pedestrian entrance, the vehicle gate and the lift core and you have dealt with key handover, tailgating, and the tenant who left without returning anything.
- 2
Intercom and video entry
Once the entrance is controlled, visitors need a way in that does not involve a resident walking down. We quote this after the entrance design is fixed, because the leaf type and the gate position decide the hardware.
- 3
Cameras at the controlled points
A camera is worth most where a door or gate already records an entry, so a card use has a picture attached to it. Perimeter coverage comes after that.
- 4
Alarm on the back of house
Plant rooms, meter rooms and refuse areas are where losses happen quietly. Cheap to protect once the cable route to the controller room exists.
- 5
Automation and monitoring
Gate automation, lighting on movement and remote monitoring sit on top of everything above. Added when the building manager wants them, not before.
What each person actually gets
Three people live with this system and they want different things from it. If you are specifying it for a client, the first column is yours and the other two are what you will need in the room.
Installer or consultant
If you are specifying or installing this for a client.
- Door schedule and cable routes agreed before anything is ordered
- The whole scope quoted, including power supplies, materials and door hardware
- Supply only, or supply and install, whichever suits your contract
- Design support on door counts, reader selection and materials
- Pricing that varies by volume and project type, not one fixed trade rate
Building manager
The person who has to run it after everyone else has gone home.
- A tenant who leaves is removed in software, so no locks need changing
- A record of who came in, which door, and when, without asking anyone
- Contractors given access for a window of time rather than a key
- Entrance doors and the back of house alarm on one system, with one log
- Amenity access tied to whether an account is in good standing, instead of someone policing it in person
- Entrances and gates keep working through power cuts, on battery backup sized for the door count
Residents
The people who use it every day and will complain first if it is wrong.
- One credential for the gate, the entrance and the lift, instead of a key and a fob and a remote
- No waiting at the gate for a guard to open it by hand
- Visitors let in without a resident walking down to the entrance
- The gym, pool or clubroom on the same credential
- A lost card cancelled the same day, with no locks to change
What this changes on the running cost side
We do not publish payback figures, because they depend on your unit count, your arrears position and what you currently spend. These are the categories a controlled entrance moves. Put your own numbers against them.
- Re keying and lock replacement when a tenant leaves without returning keys, which becomes a credential deleted in software
- Guard hours spent opening doors, checking visitors and walking to the gate
- Disputes about who was in the building and when, which become a log entry instead of an argument
- Amenity access tied to account standing rather than handled in person
- Lift and plant room damage from people who had no reason to be there
- Insurance conversations, where a documented access log is evidence rather than a claim
None of these are guaranteed savings. They are the lines on your budget a controlled entrance touches, and the ones worth measuring before and after.