Urmet delivers on London 2012 access control scheme

The challenge facing the Organising Committee at every Olympic Games is how to accommodate both competitors and officials centrally, comfortably and securely, offering them a residential base from which to prepare for their events.

For London 2012, this meant providing a temporary home for a population that was equivalent to that of a medium-sized town – 17,000 people.

Competitors and officials were housed in a development of 2,800 apartments at the Athletes’ Village, which was built in a regenerated, former industrial area of east London.

In addition to the residential side of the project, a wide range of amenities had to be installed in order to provide the level of services expected by the Olympians. Those amenities inclued shops, restaurants, medical, media and leisure facilities.

Privacy and security: key issues

With privacy and security two key issues at play, LOCOG (the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralypmic Games) took possession of the 12 completed residential plots at the Athletes’ Village in April 2012 this year.

Main contractor for the project was Lend Lease and, in conjunction with the Olympic Delivery Authority, they’d appointed Urmet Domus UK to provide an IP-based platform for the door entry systems at the village.

The IP-based door entry solution detailed in the specifications didn’t even exist in 2009 when the project was being talked about,rendering the specification visionary to say the least. In fact, at the time Urmet was brought in, it was the only manufacturer capable of meeting the specification in terms of technology and the non-negotiable deadline.

More interesting still, Urmet had to deliver a cost-neutral solution and adhere to a price for a product that was not yet available.

Indeed, it has been widely recognised that the London 2012 Athletes’ Village is the first major project of its kind, as no other manufacturer had previously delivered a major IP residential project.

Versatility and responding to change

As Lend Lease wanted a single platform for all 12 plots (each comprising 6-8 buildings, making a total of 68 blocks) – a “site-wide system” – it had to be sufficiently versatile to be able to respond to any possible changes and additions that might be required as the project progressed.

This meant having a full IP system that would enable, for example, the location of the EMO (Estate Management Office) to be changed simply by unplugging the RJ45 connector (Ethernet cable) and moving it to another block as the buildings were completed.

All of the blocks at the complex are linked by a local area network (LAN) and each block is linked to the EMO via a virtual LAN, or VLAN. A fibre optic VLAN serves to separate the bandwidth into individual segments for services such as the air conditioning system, door entry, fire, comfort cooling, office network, CCTV and back-up, etc.

Working with a range of other specialist providers, Urmet conducted comprehensive off-site tests of the proposed system at its factory in Turin. This involved simulating all 12 plots at the Athletes’ Village, with 50 monitors in each and complete with concierge services and internal testing.

Lend Lease was invited to attend these tests so that the principal contractor could see for itself Urmet was capable of delivering what it promised.

An independent witness testing company was also involved to provide Lend Lease with the reassurance that what had been ordered was actually in place and working.

Detailing the solution

The system proposed by Urmet was IPervoice. All of the configuration details were taken from the installers before the IPervoice equipment was delivered. This meant the system could be built and programmed off-site.

Indeed, this off-site preparation was of great benefit to the individual contractors as there was ‘airport-style’ security at the Olympic site. As a result, making sure the system was pre-configured and pre-tested beforehand made it less time-intensive for the installers as there was no need for them to keep going back and forth through security.

Once installed, the network was then fully connected and switched on. Any cable faults were adjusted and the system was soon up and running, problem-free.

Urmet’s expertise and experience meant that installation went smoothly and without a hitch in all 68 buildings. Better still, no other providers were ever held up during the process and the project never fell behind schedule – something that was a proud characteristic of the preparations for London 2012 in general.

All of the pre-installed CAT 5 cable used to connect the system was thoroughly checked to make sure that no other contractors had inadvertently hammered a nail or drilled through a cable and the site was ready to operate.

All of the plots were connected and further witness testing was conducted before the blocks were signed off as working properly in standalone mode.

Finally, everything was connected to the network, tested again and handover was made to Lend Lease on time and on budget – ready for release to LOCOG ahead of the Games.

Benefits afforded by the chosen system set-up

Aside from the fact that the entire Athletes’ Village operates on a single platform that can also be rolled out to any new buildings added subsequently at the site – thereby avoiding the need to replicate and extend countless different systems – the main benefits offered by the chosen Urmet solution are its instant personalisation and dependability.

The system integrates access control with event memory for monitoring movements at all entrances. With IPervoice, the concierge desk becomes a Service Centre connected to all buildings and apartments. Also, the intrusion alarm of each apartment interfaces with the system for better monitoring and continuous surveillance by the concierge.

There’s no limit on installable cameras, which can be monitored at all times from each apartment to check on compound security.

In terms of the intercom function, there are top quality communications inside and outside apartments. There are up to 16 devices in each apartment, constantly interfacing, without using the riser column. There’s also the possibility of communicating with all other users in the system and with the various manned stations in common areas.

Residents at the village can use the audio/video mailbox containing messages left by visitors when they were away.

IPervoice constantly monitors the state of all peripheral devices in the system: the switchboard is immediately alerted if there’s a fault. The signals can be sent to a remote destination, such as calling for assistance, thereby providing a more effective service.

The local legacy

Now that the Olympic and Paralympic Games are over, the Athletes’ Village, which transformed a patch of industrial land in London’s East End at a cost of GB pound 1.1 billion of taxpayers’ money, will enter a second phase of its life in the form of individual residential housing.

Of the 2,818 apartments built on the site, 1,379 will become affordable housing managed by Triathlon Homes.

Private property consortium Qatari Diar and investment group Delancey (QDD) will rent out the other part of the complex, consisting of 1,439 apartments.

With regard to further expansion, an additional 2,000 properties are planned for the site in the years to come.

Given Urmet’s range of IP solutions, all of them can be interlinked to provide instant, single-platform control for all access and security-related requirements.