Surf’s up for Salto at new Snowdonia water Sports Park

Smart access control technology from SALTO Systems is helping secure guest accommodation and other facilities at Surf Snowdonia a new surf and water sports park on the edge of the Snowdonia national park.

Built on a former industrial site – an aluminium rolling and casting works which closed in 2007 – the derelict, brownfield wasteland has been turned into a £15 million fresh-water lagoon, roughly the size of six football pitches. This is now home to the world’s first publicly accessible Wavegarden surf lagoon which, at the push of a button, generates the longest man-made surfing wave - up to 2m high - every minute.

The waves interact with contours on the bed of the lagoon to provide different wave profiles at varying points in the lagoon. From the expert central area of the lagoon, two identical waves break simultaneously left and right with barrelling point-break type rides up to 20 seconds long. Once the waves reach the beginners’ area at each end of the lagoon, the left and right hand waves become smaller, turning into more playful whitewater waves: the perfect size for all ages to learn and improve their skills.

Besides surfing, Surf Snowdonia also offers a wide range of other water based activities as well as a surf-side café bar, coffee shops and retail space. A 50-metre glass-fronted viewing gallery also lets visitors get close to the surf action without even getting wet! To cover guest security for those staying on site, Surf Snowdonia appointed SALTO partner Gateshead-based Advantex Network Solutions Ltd. They installed a Wi-Fi infrastructure to support state-of-the-art IP (Internet Protocol) based access control, telephony and intruder alarm services.

Visitors can stay in 36 accommodation ‘pods’ each of which can each sleep up to 4 adults so up to 144 guests can be catered for on-site. Each of these pods is secured by a SALTO stand alone battery operated and weather proof XS4 E9451 handle set in a stainless steel finish. These are joined by 3 online doors in the central corridor of the HUB building, and 9 wire free handles in the HUB, amenity block and plant room. In addition there are also 300 lockers on-site, with 56 more to come, which visitors can use to store their personal items, all secured and protected by SALTO electronic locker locks.

The smart SALTO access control solution enables Surf Snowdonia to have full command of the site controlling who can access what, where and when at all times. The smart card operated handle sets enable guests to access their pod for the duration of their stay with an audit trail providing full security details of every time the door to the ‘pod’ is accessed. If for any reason the card is lost or not handed back when the guest leaves the park, it can be cancelled simply and quickly and a new one issued with no worry about having to change keys or locks!

This technology gives Surf Snowdonia the ability to continuously upgrade its security if and when it chooses without having to upgrade the locks, saving long term operating costs while providing what they need most – total control.

Andy Ainscough, Director of Operations at Surf Snowdonia, said “Advantex impressed with its expertise and ability to deliver and support a large-scale infrastructure project. As a part of that solution, our new SALTO access control system will give our guests peace of mind and security when staying in our accommodation and will meet our needs long into the future.”

“This prestigious contract is a massive boost for us, strongly reinforcing our position as one of the top suppliers of advanced network solutions” comments Stephen O’Connell of Advantex. “The advanced SALTO access control system we’ve installed at Surf Snowdonia is part of that, and clearly demonstrates we have the ability and expertise to deliver any size of project, anywhere on time, within budget and to the highest specification regardless of location.”