Cardinal Newman College gets future proofed security with SALTO

Cardinal Newman College has upgraded their security management system with the latest version of SALTO System’s XS4 and GEO electronic access control solution with smart card validation.

A Catholic Sixth Form College situated in the heart of Preston city centre, Cardinal Newman College strives to be a centre of educational excellence for the community built on faith, respect and trust. It is set on a unique and compact campus and over the past two years has embarked on an extensive redevelopment programme which has seen the College benefit from state of the art new facilities. This programme is on-going.

With its existing mechanical locking system becoming outdated, the College was made aware by Saturn Architectural, a SALTO Certificated Partner, that its problems with security and key control could be solved by the latest Mifare smart card systems which could remove the problems of lost keys and the associated cost of replacing locks.

Nick Peacock of Saturn Architectural explains “With young students on campus it is vital that we provide 24/7 on-campus security to ensure their safety at all times. The College is a very busy environment with lots of high-user traffic on its doors so it was vital that the security solution we recommended was robust, technologically advanced and capable of standing the test of time, which is why we chose to put forward SALTO Systems products.”

Products from SALTO’s XS4 range including the E9450 handle set in both stainless steel and powder coated finishes were installed on over 250 doors across campus to step up security. Smart, secure and innovative, the stand alone XS4 electronic handle sets need no hard wiring and provide a totally wire free networked electronic locking solution with a great range of features.

To compliment these around 20 SALTO GEO electronic cylinder locks consisting of half cylinders and padlocks were fitted to store and plant room doors. These are fully integrated with the XS4 platform and their versatile, compact size made them an ideal solution for these doors where fitting a conventional electronic handle set was not required.

Another area that required attention was the lifts within the College. These had suffered from some abuse which was costing money to make good so the lift call buttons were replaced with electronic readers, and now only less able bodied students and staff can call the lifts. This has eliminated the problem.

Nick Peacock continues: “SALTO Systems has a very strong reputation, particularly within the education sector, and so we were very comfortable with installing their products. The project ran in two phases, with Phase One being new build construction with SALTO product going straight in and Phase Two being retro-fit replacement of existing mechanical locks.

The College has been very impressed with the technical ability of the products, in particular the ability to read, receive and write information via the College’s student and staff ID cards. Since most access related information is kept encrypted on these cards, the locks are able to update and receive information from the cards at any time. So not only is the system easy to use, but its functionality practically has all the benefits of a fully on line access control system at the cost of a standalone system.

The ‘smart’ ID cards build up ‘on-card’ audit trails through normal use giving the College complete control over access and enabling the movement of students, staff and visitors to be tracked if required. This enables a complete access profile of each individual to be established and updated as necessary as well as having the ability to see who accessed what door, where and when.

Cards can be programmed to allow access to specific rooms or areas within the College for selected periods only, with the doors auto locking at pre-specified times as required. And if card security is breached due to the loss or theft of a card, it can be instantly deleted without the need or cost of rekeying or changing locks – saving the College time and money.”

Paul Carr, SALTO Systems Northern Area Sales Manager, adds: SALTO Systems are world leaders in advanced wireless access control solutions for the education sector. We have vast experience of working with schools, colleges and universities and understand the challenging security issues faced by these establishments.

We are pleased to have been able to work with Cardinal Newman College to improve their campus security and provide a long-lasting, flexible solution to their access control needs. In particular, upgrading the College to a Mifare based proximity smart card system operating on the SALTO XS4 platform means their security is no longer compromised if a student or member of staff loses their key.”