Property and infrastructure developer Lend Lease is using Urmet’s IP video door entry and access control system at a new-build apartment complex in south London.
Cobalt Place, a luxury eco-friendly project in the heart of Battersea Village, will use the Urmet IPervoice solution which requires only one Virtual LAN for the whole location. IPervoice meets Lend Lease’s aim of single-platform control by operating from the site’s main managed fibre network.
Resident and visitor access is via communal entrances serving each block of apartments. The buildings will feature an Elekta Steel IP PoE vandal-resistant video entry panel with a 3.5” colour display. Entrance for residents and pre-approved visitors can be by proximity device or use of an alpha-numeric keypad. A wide-angle colour camera (activated by a passive infrared sensor) allows residents to view their visitors, who can also leave video messages if required. IPervoice’s additional features include audio message recording, absence function, duress alerts and assistance for elderly or frail residents.
When inside the apartments, residents receive or play back video and audio calls on the Urmet iModo super-slim 7” touchscreen, which is integrated with a camera and double-speaker stereo. Users value the system for its icon-based interface, while architects and installers appreciate the compact dimensions, clean lines and PoE. Residents can even receive their video calls remotely on their tablets and smartphones by configuring an intuitive call-forwarding service using the Urmet App. Remote connectivity allows Urmet engineers to oversee and programme the system from head office making it cost-effective to maintain.
The video entry panels are integrated with panel-mount readers and comply with Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) requirements. These panels are vandal-resistant to IK09 impact resistance standards and also have IP45 protection against dust and other contaminants. Flush moving elements minimise the risk of the units being compromised and possible pry points have been factored out of the design making it resistant to acts of vandalism.
Additional controlled doors at Cobalt Place are being fitted with Urmet’s P60 readers, which sit within the site’s IPervoice platform and therefore use the same single Virtual LAN. The Urmet interface for the apartment lifts communicates with the LAN in a similar manner to the access control procedure, enabling integrated installation within the common managed network and the ability to restrict visitors to certain floors.
Urmet is giving Lend Lease and its partners an array of functions that will make the concierge office a genuine service centre for residents and visitors. Lend Lease’s contractors are providing an IP address range for video door entry and related functions that allows Urmet engineers to install IPervoice with the system’s DHCP server controlling IP addresses to avoid conflicts.
Urmet has ensured that IPervoice meets the communal dwelling requirements of the ‘Secured by Design’ scheme, a UK police flagship initiative that supports the principles of 'designing out crime'. Cobalt Place has 102 apartments within four main cores. Crucially, IPervoice has the facility to allow each individual block of apartments to start with the number ‘one’, but enables the concierge at the central control point to use a single handset.
“This development underlines the versatility of IPervoice,” said Mark Hagger, Urmet’s Sales and Marketing Director. “A diverse residential development will be using the system for multiple access and security-related requirements, all from a single platform within the site-wide structured cabling.”
He continued: “Urmet’s ability to pre-configure IPervoice off-site was invaluable for the client as they coped with the logistics of coordinating multiple contractors within tight deadlines. Our previous work with developers Lend Lease has included the London 2012 Athletes’ Village, so we’re accustomed to collaborating with them on prestigious projects.”
Cobalt Place is more than just a ‘blue to green’ development; it will also move beyond sustainability to make a positive contribution to the environment, with CO2 emissions 25% less than in homes built to current building regulation standards.
In London alone, Urmet equipment has been specified recently at high-profile residential projects, including Chelsea Creek, 375 Kensington High Street, One Tower Bridge, Fulham Reach and Goodman’s Fields.
