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Wolverhampton Homes manages and maintains over 23,500 homes on behalf of The City of
Wolverhampton Council. In order to provide residents with the highest standards of security
and safety, it has installed access control and door entry products from GDX by STANLEY
FACILITIES SHOW DAILY JUNE 2018 5
Wolverhampton Homes is a not-forprofit
organisation that was formed in
2005 with a mission to provide good quality
homes and great customer service for The
City of Wolverhampton Council’s tenants and
leaseholders. It is responsible for letting the
homes through a scheme called Homes in the
City and chose GDX door entry solutions due
to the flexibility the system would provide for
their tenants.
Prior to the formation of Wolverhampton
Homes, GDX worked directly with The City of
Wolverhampton Council and the first GDX system
was installed on its behalf in 1995.
GDX5 is designed for residential projects
requiring control of multiple door entry panels.
Lloyd Palmer, Area Manager at GDX, explains, ‘The
system can manage a maximum of 255 handsets
per block with the option of central control from
a concierge. The control equipment contains
all of the necessary electronics that can be split
into distribution units to simplify and can reduce
wiring. The result is a robust yet simple to install
door entry system with audio only or video
options’.
HELPING HAND
Wolverhampton Homes has adopted all the
various versions of GDX5 as they have been
introduced, and there are now over 700 door
entry systems in low-rise blocks of flats across the
city, while 3,000 tenants that live on our high-rise
estates utilise a concierge service. Commenting
on the developments over the years, John
Hopkins, Neighbourhood Services Manager at
Wolverhampton Homes, states, “In 2006 we made
our first steps into remote monitoring by enabling
each GDX5 system to be monitored from a single
location within each building. However, with
the help of GDX, in 2013 we developed a remote
monitoring and Concierge Control Room in Bilston,
which allows a dedicated team of operators
to monitor CCTV and control door access into
buildings and provide what is now a highly-valued
concierge service.”
The ability to expand the scope of the GDX5
system into a remote monitoring platform is
down to the use of internet protocol (IP). The
IP revolution has had a dramatic effect on the
physical security equipment industry, allowing the
development of new technologies that would have
been unimaginable just a few years ago.
GDX’s Lloyd Palmer says, “IP means that not
only can access control technology be managed
remotely, specific personnel can even be granted
or denied access to certain areas at different times,
making it not only good for security but also, in
some environments, for health and safety. Also,
in the event of a theft or antisocial behaviour, it is
possible to pinpoint exactly who was where.”
CENTRAL PERK
IP based access control offers virtually unlimited
system expansion capabilities that, in turn,
enables an abundance of cost saving and
centralisation benefits. This scalability also
means that existing systems can simply be added
to, offering Wolverhampton Homes the benefit
of knowing that the cost of their system will be
proportional to the number of doors it needs to
control.
“Similarly, the use of IP means that
Wolverhampton Homes can access information
via their remote monitoring operation,” comments
Lloyd Palmer. “All the information traditionally
gathered by an on-premise IP access control
system is then stored and retrieved from its
database. Remote diagnostics, technical issues
and servicing can be carried out, and it’s also
possible to remotely view status, reset a system
and access an event log. It also offers other
practical benefits, e.g. if someone loses their fob
we can access their personal information, carry
out an authorisation check, let them into their
abode and deactivate the missing device.”
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
GDX5 has made a huge contribution toward
ensuring that each building is kept clean, safe and
secure. With audio communication between the
Concierge Control Room and all the buildings,
Wolverhampton Homes can monitor traffic,
address antisocial behaviour and take appropriate
action to minimise the impact of any events by
deploying personnel or, if required, notifying the
emergency services.
Wolverhampton Homes has even worked with
GDX to enhance features to the access control
system. John Hopkins explains, “I wanted to
implement a non-intrusive way that we could be
notified if there was a potential problem within
a home. In collaboration with GDX we have
developed an alert based system that notifies the
remote monitoring centre if a resident’s key fob
hasn’t been used for a specific period of time. If
an alert is activated, we can send someone over to
check on them, notify next of kin or the relevant
authorities. We also have the ability to remotely
open entrance doors to the block to allow access
for the emergency services.”
Although vandalism is infrequent, GDX5 is
particularly robust and if a component is damaged
or any other type of technical malfunction occurs
through normal use, a notification is sent to the
Concierge Control Room, so remedial action can
be taken. The design of the devices and good
levels of availability means that any problems are
quick and easy to resolve.