A new access control system and video surveillance systems have been installed in St Paul’s Cathedral to better protect staff, visitors and worshippers.
Acting works manager at St Paul’s, Tom Fletcher, described how the installation was part of a complete refurbishment of our security facilities”.
The access control system was particularly important to track the movements of the cathedral’s 200 permanent and 300 part time volunteer staff.
As well as restricting access to non-public areas within the Cathedral, its primary purpose is to create a report as to who is on site at any given time, as well as automatically generate a muster list in the event of a fire alarm activation.
Works manager Fletcher said: “We have previously used a paper register to record which of our colleagues are on duty and where they may be located in the building.
“The main issue with this register is that all staff have to check in and check out through the security office which can be time consuming. We may work in an environment whose history dates back to the 7th Century, but we can now claim to have system in place which benefits from 21st Century technology.”
Installers Touchstone Electronics installed Samsung SSA-R1001V vandal resistant proximity Smartcard readers at various locations within the Cathedral and the Chapter House. Access control cards have been issued to all permanent and part time staff which they swipe against the access control readers whenever they enter or leave one of the buildings.
The high resolution images captured by the 10 Samsung cameras installed by Touchstone Electronics are all recorded on a Samsung SRD-1670DC DVR, allowing, if necessary, a detailed review of any incidents. Six of the cameras are vandal resistant models incorporating Day/Night functionality and built-in IR lighting, enabling them to capture high quality images regardless of the lighting conditions. The other four cameras are internal vandal resistant models.
Engineering director, Adrian Soper, said: “We were obviously delighted to be entrusted to carry out this important project for such a prestigious client. We considered solutions from a number of different manufacturers but our research led us to conclude that Samsung could offer the price/performance ratio required to match St Paul’s requirements for both systems.”
The access control system has been integrated with the new video surveillance system which is monitored 24/7 by security personnel from an on-site control room.
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