All Saints School is a Primary School located in the Babbacombe Area of Torquay. As with every Primary School in the country there is a need to provide restricted or controlled access to the site in order to safeguard the children. This became a requirement following the awful events in Dunblane in Scotland in 1996 when a gunman gained access to the school and 16 children and their teacher lost their lives.
All Saints School had an existing system covering one main gate, one vehicular gate and one rear gate. It consisted of an audio intercom going back to a single handset within the main office. Due to no fault of their own over the years the system had become unreliable and had eventually been configured that when the release button was pressed all three gates were open.
With the event of Covid-19 restrictions the school were becoming ever more reliant upon the system and needed the added functionality of being able to see the person requiring entry, not just being able to talk to them. They also wanted to replace the keypads for proximity card readers to lessen the need for touch and reduce the potential for transmission of disease.
Universal Fire And Security Ltd were engaged to provide a solution. Having worked at other schools within the MAT (Multi-Academy Trust) our pedigree for providing cost effective solutions was well known.
The first issue was that the gate areas were remote from the building and the cabling infrastructure would not support the transmission of audio and video back to the Main Reception. A solution was found by providing a wireless network from the outlying points back to the building. The intercom and card reader chosen was an IP (Internet Protocol) solution from Hikvision.
An intercom door station with Audio and Visual capabilities was installed with a modular Card Reader sited below the unit. Within the building a flatscreen touchscreen monitor was provided to allow full communication with the gate areas.
Now each intercom and relevant card reader will only release the gate in question so the security of the premises is back to where they require it to be. Staff members carry cards to grant them access.
