What are the access control needs of different sectors?

Reimagining how people interact with spaces: Meesons takes a closer look at access control needs in different sectors.

With the ever-changing landscape that is the security industry, it is key to constantly reimagine how people interact with spaces.

As technology advances and smart buildings become the norm, it is essential to understand how building users navigate premises, keeping the process easy without compromising the level of security required.

By consistently reimagining how this happens, we can keep up with trends and provide optimum experiences for clients and end users. 

However, different sectors require different levels of interaction within a building.

Taking a step back, assessing the level of threat somewhere holds and contemplating how much control people need over the building is vital to establishing the best way to set up a particular space for the best experience regarding security.  

We promote taking a layered approach, ensuring you have alternative and additional layers of protection to deter, delay and prevent misconduct.

This includes guarded security, CCTV, access control and physical security.

Both physical security and access control must seamlessly integrate in order to provide a good user experience; but the sector will determine how this works.  

Access control in banking and finance 

When providing security to the banking and finance sectors, it is vital to place security that accommodates the needs of the business without causing a hindrance to staff and visitors.

This means putting in user friendly solutions that also have a high level of intelligence to prevent unauthorised access.  

Due to the sensitivity of data and materials banking and financial institutions hold within buildings, the chosen security must be closely considered and integrate well with the selected access control.

Ultimately, this leads to a pleasant and safe experience for all authorised users and ensures the banking or financial organisation is taking care of customer information with the utmost caution. 

With an array of projects in this sector that Meesons has worked on, we know the importance of getting the right level of security that still allows people to interact with a building.

For example, Meesons helped the Financial Organisation, Landmark London Development, to provide security in multiple areas of the building.

With the scale of this project, it was a challenge for the client to get security in all necessary locations.

The ten storey building was set to house 6,000 members of staff with different amenities. However, Meesons’ expertise in this sector meant we were able to help.  

It was essential for the client on this project to have physical security that integrated contactless biometric readers to allow for a high level of authentication.

Also crucial to the client was the aesthetics of the products chosen as they needed to complement the prestigious building’s look. With this in mind, we provided a variety of solutions… 

For the two main entrances to Landmark London Development, Meesons provided 17 lanes of EasyGate Elite dual wing speed gates.

This solution complemented the building’s look whilst allowing for maximum throughput.

This solution ensured that the client had full interaction with the building due to their request for the ability to enable override of the speed gates for the free passage of VIP guests by integrated key fobs that were provided to the onsite concierge security.

An EasyTouch Control Panel was added to enable staff to control the solutions from the reception desk. 

Additionally, we worked closely with the client and IDEMIA (MorphoWave) to design a bespoke tower to house the compact biometric reader.

48 biometric towers were installed to create a consistent look across the different entrances while also providing QR readers as an alternative method of authentication. 

Further security solutions were required for this project in Landmark London Development, including Meesons’ bike solution that controlled access to the cycle parking area.

With a high level of authentication, this solution needed to accommodate to those entering with or without a bike while ensuring only authorised users could gain access.  

Additional solutions were provided for this project, including EasyGate SG 1000 Speed Gates to control the access to the building’s gym and childcare centre alongside an EasyTouch Control Panel.

At the permanent contractor’s entrance, we installed full-height turnstiles and a dual-wing pass gate. 

Overall, working on Landmark London Development, alongside many other banking and finance projects, Meesons has developed a great level of expertise in providing security solutions.

We’re able to advise on the best solutions to the client’s challenges within the banking and finance sector while also integrating and collaborating with access control solutions to help reimagine how building users interact with a building. 

Access control in core commercial 

Within the core commercial sector in recent years, there has been a shift in the way people interact with buildings, particularly offices.

More and more mixed tenant, co-working and flexible spaces have been developed due to the changing ways people now like to work.

However, with this comes a challenge in terms of access control.

Enabling flexibility throughout a building without increasing risks towards unauthorised access is vital.

Without controlling this, there can be more common issues of theft, vandalism and even sensitive information being stolen.  

Meesons has a portfolio of instances where we it has helped clients overcome issues surrounding physical and access control in core commercial buildings.

A standout example would be The Smith, a stylish office building located in Kingston-Upon-Thames, London.  

We worked closely with the client to ensure that building managers would have greater control over access in the mixed tenant space by implementing an LCD capacitive remote control console that can determine the opening and closing times of the speed gates at the touch of a button.

This ensured that the building manager could take full control of how they wanted the product to work and make for a seamless experience.  

Another example of working with access control in a core commercial building to help people interact with the facilities in a unique way is Forty Bank Street in Canary Wharf.

The client for this project opted for our sleek EasyGate Elite Speed Gates, integrating low level HID card readers into the front of the cabinets as alternative methods of authentication.  

This meant that a backup with access control was provided to prevent any mishaps.

On top of this, QR readers were placed on the top of the cabinets to prevent them from shining into the reception.

This highly bespoke speed gate solution enabled the client to customise the access control for what would work best for the end users.  

Access control in higher education 

Access control in the higher education sector has its own separate challenges, such as preventing students from accessing restricted areas.

This type of access control also differentiates when providing physical security to a higher education facility as students will want something in place that allows quick and simple navigation.

We have helped a variety of higher education institutions with their security challenges, from student accommodation to university campuses.  

At Halesowen College, we helped secure the perimeter of the building with our EasyGate SPT Outdoor Speed Gates.

This solution was chosen due to the high level of throughput it could cope with and its robustness.

As well as this, the solution is able to withstand harsh weather conditions and is therefore suitable for the college’s perimeter.

In terms of adapting this product to be ideal for a higher education facility, Meesons worked closely with the client to implement EasyTouch Control Panel and TMON Software.  

Doing this enabled staff to be able to control the speed gates remotely.

This increase in control meant that the staff could monitor the security solution while automating the time scheduling of directional access so that they could ease the flow of people at peak times.

By installing this software into the product, the customer was left with highly interactive experiences that gave them the utmost control over access to the facilities. 

Access control in fitness and leisure 

Across the fitness and leisure industries, access control is pivotal to helping businesses expand their offerings.

From delivering 24/7 access to unguarded centres, an intelligent access control system can create long term cost benefits.

It is essential to consistently reimagine how people interact with buildings in the leisure and fitness industry to keep on top of the latest customer demands. 

Meesons has extensive knowledge in this sector, having provided security to many well-known gyms, including PureGym, since 2011.

With our help, it has been able to open facilities up safely to members 24/7 – without supervision from staff. Many of the PureGym sites feature our C4 Cylindrical Portals due to their useful features.

For example, its space-saving design ensures that they can optimise the area for the gym equipment.

Also, with an intuitive user interface, the C4 Cylindrical Portal can be operated by the public, making it an excellent tool for users to access the building.  

The key to success 

Securing different sectors means reimagining what will work best for its end users.

A member of staff entering a core commercial office may have concerns about unauthorised access in case of IT equipment being used to steal sensitive data, whereas a gym member is more concerned about protecting their items from potential theft.  

Both issues can be prevented with access control and physical security.

However, they require different ways of people interacting with the space.

Keeping on top of what people need to enhance their user experience within a building in different sectors is key to succeeding in this.