Secured Alarm Systems installs ACT access control equipment at Wales’ regeneration project

ACT door controllers, door stations and proximity fobs are being used at Urban Village development

Secured Alarm Systems are installing access control equipment from ACT at a £25m regeneration project in Swansea, Wales.

The integrator is using ACT door controllers, door stations and proximity fobs at the Urban Village development, an ongoing project that has already transformed the High Street and Strand area of Swansea with a set of mixed-use commercial and residential buildings.

The landlord is Coastal Housing Group who has completed a first phase involving 76 flats for social rent and five floors of office and retail space. ACT products have been used across the whole complex including door automation systems at the residential accommodation so that elderly tenants or wheelchair-users can open doors automatically from distance with their fobs. The controllers are the ACTpro 4000 model which can extend to a total of 16 doors when combined with ACT door stations. The client is using these with proximity (125 kHz) ACTProx fobs.

Site accommodates Coastal Housing Group’s technical & administrative staff

Companies in the commercial areas at Urban Village include the city’s newspaper, the ‘South Wales Evening Post’, and the site also accommodates over a hundred of Coastal Housing Group’s technical and administrative staff. A second office block will provide a ‘Creative Cluster’ for media-based activity that will include a venue for the performing arts. Civil contractors R&M Williams and Holder Mathias Architects are responding to various challenges including the refurbishment of a 125-year-old warehouse.

Every ACT controller allows for individually-tailored access levels which mean the installer has been able to implement a solution with a hierarchy of access rights for residential tenants and commercial users according to their profile. ACT products are being used site-wide including the interior of commercial offices and in underground car parks where drivers are issued with ACT 433TXprox long-range transmitters which can operate over distances up to 50 meters and are integrated with the site’s gate and barrier control.

Software allows programme fobs

Matthew Giffard, Managing Director of Secured Alarm Systems, said: "A notable feature of these installations is that we are installing the ACT components in the different buildings on the site and then reaching out to the management software using the network controllers. The software is allowing us to programme fobs with a sophisticated hierarchy of user-specific rights access and check on usage history with automated reporting.”

He continued: “The ACT products are not just user-friendly they are installer-friendly to a remarkable degree. Facility managers at Coastal Housing Group are proactive in the way they exploit the capabilities of the system and the scope it offers for programming door groups. To date we have had a zero return rate on the ACT products.”

Swansea-based Secured Alarm Systems operate in disciplines including access control, CCTV and fire protection. The company works for several social housing associations and is also active in the civil infrastructure, retail and student accommodation sectors. The engineering team covers the whole of the south-west of the UK. Secured Alarm Systems are a member of the National Security Inspectorate and staff is fully trained in the Construction Skills Certification Scheme.

Regeneration of older stock & building new houses

Coastal Housing Group is a not-for-profit industrial and provident society operating in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, and Carmarthenshire. A principal objective is regeneration of older stock and building new houses to improve the local community and provide good-quality affordable homes.

The group has over 5,000 properties for rent and for sale and are experts in securing accommodation for older people, those who require adapted homes, and people who need help managing their tenancy.