Urmet has supplied its IP video entry and access control solution to a £500m central London residential project on the north bank of the Thames.
The development by St Edward (part of The Berkeley Group) at 190 Strand will feature 200 suites, apartments and penthouses around a landscaped square stretching down to the riverfront.
Engineering and construction company, NG Bailey, has used Urmet’s IPervoice open platform software for resident access, visitor announcement, system management by concierge staff and lift control interface. The site is within the City of Westminster and opposite the Royal Courts of Justice and in close proximity to cultural institutions such as the Royal Opera House, Trafalgar Square and Admiralty Arch.
A team from GRID Architects evaluated the visual impact of all components in the buildings and a combination of Urmet’s Elekta stainless steel and Elekta glass entry panels was chosen to match the exterior of the complex which has a filigree façade and curtain walling.
The Power over Ethernet (PoE) Elekta panels feature a 3.5” colour display and allow visitors to record both audio and video messages. Residents gain access using key fobs to activate proximity readers which are an integral part of the entrance panels. Urmet’s Wiegand proximity readers are also located on more than 50 doors that lead to communal areas in the property such as the private swimming pool, business centre, spa, gym and cinema. The readers use the same LAN as the entrance panels so contributing to a seamless solution.
Within the residences, users communicate with their visitors and the concierge via Urmet’s recently launched MAX IP Android-powered touchscreen. The 7-inch unit functions as a tablet device based on the swipe and gesture conventions familiar to any user of a smartphone.
This new touchscreen builds on Urmet’s already sophisticated lift control interface and includes a lift icon that can either call the lift to the resident’s floor or send it to ground level to receive a guest or delivery person. The lift occupant can then only travel to the floor for which they have permission and they are prevented from visiting other levels. Throughout the project, Urmet has worked to the requirements of Secured by Design (the official UK police flagship supporting the principles of ‘designing out crime’) which mandates intelligent lift management of this kind.
The MAX IP touchscreen endorses Urmet’s commitment to open platforms, and at 190 Strand it has been delivered pre-loaded with the developer’s chosen control Apps for home automation. This versatility contributed to the architect’s goal of reducing multiple control panels by minimising the number of devices in the living areas and hallways.
The Strand site is also using Urmet’s concierge switchboard software which allows the concierge to manage calls, receive and create alarms, generate usage reports, issue and suspend access fobs as well as sending messages on a global, group and individual basis. The software simplifies these functions by presenting the concierge with an intuitive screen menu and empowers staff through an overall site awareness that contributes to resident security.
Additional benefits for Urmet users at 190 Strand include forwarding of calls made at the entrance panel to a smart device when the occupant is off-site or even abroad. Residents simply download an Urmet App from the Google Play Store or App Store and create their own SIP account. Families can exploit this feature as the system will allow up to four devices to be used simultaneously.
Mark Hagger, Urmet’s Sales and Marketing Director, said: “190 Strand underlines that Urmet’s IPervoice is a collaborative environment from which we work with chosen third-party manufacturers on the kind of interfaces that will benefit installers and allow them to create optimised home area networks for end-users.”
Hagger continued: “This is our second project for The Berkeley Group in recent months. In 2015, Urmet delivered an IPervoice solution at St Joseph’s Gate in Mill Hill, London. In both cases, designing an installation that was in sympathy with period architecture was vital and this is becoming one of Urmet’s many strengths. We’re delighted to be working regularly on these sorts of projects with a client of this stature.”
190 Strand covers a 342,000 sq ft site and is spread across six buildings connected by a ground-level colonnade only 100 yards from the Thames. The site is adjacent to the Grade I-listed St Clement Danes Church by Sir Christopher Wren. In 2017 the area will see the completion of a pedestrian walkway across the river, the Garden Bridge, which has been conceived by 2012 Olympic engineer Thomas Heatherwick and actress Joanna Lumley.
