Electronic Access Control for a University

Salto Systems, the international access control specialists, have won a major new contract to provide advanced electronic access control equipment to the University of St Andrews. Scotland's first university and the third oldest in the English-speaking world, St Andrews was founded in 1413. The University population (staff and students) numbers nearly 9,000 and to ensure it continues to offer the best facilities it is currently upgrading its New Hall residence on the North Haugh site.

Completed in 1993, New Hall is situated on North Haugh between the Science Buildings and Andrew Melville Hall. Built on 4 floors with lift access to all levels, it provides catered and self-catering accommodation for undergraduate students. It comprises 496 single and 25 shared rooms, all with en-suite facilities i.e. private shower and toilet and for entrant student's accommodation is on a catered basis. In addition to the usual facilities there is also a coffee bar and permit only car parking. Refurbishment work on New Hall is underway and Salto Systems, together with local partner Aspex Scotland, have been awarded the contract to supply and install a fully integrated access control solution for 720 stand alone locks on the student bedrooms using one smart RFID card.

The university has demanding and complex security requirements so Salto XS4 units are being retro-fitted onto existing locks to provide a totally wire free networked electronic locking solution. These enable the key cards and locks to be updated, restricted or deleted remotely and provide the residence manager with full control over who can access what, where and when on a 24/7 basis.

Jane McConville, Residence Manager at New Hall, says "Robust security that is reliable and dependable is key in a campus housing environment, especially where many of the students are living away from home for the first time.

We required a proven, future proof access control system that could create a keyless building now but also grow to handle our future requirements too. With Salto's expertise in providing integrated solutions specifically for the further education sector, we no longer have the worry or cost of changing lock cylinders, but now have the ability to cancel out cards from the system if staff or students loose or do not return them. This enables us to maintain high levels of security ensuring the University of St Andrews, and New Hall specifically, provides a secure and accessible environment for all its users."