College challenge

The sheer size of a 500-acre college site in Cheshire was likely to be a challenge, but installer Castle Security Solutions was confident that they could tackle the project.

Castle solved the security requirements of Reaseheath College, Nantwich by using an integrated electronic security system that gives the flexibility required at an educational site.

Staff and students alike have complimented the system that allows free, secure movement around the campus, even out of hours. The college has 1000 full time and 6000 part-time students. It is set amongst 500 acres of farms, parklands, lakes, woodland and sports facilities, including its own golf course .

Previously, it had a limited number of access control systems and cameras but the college wanted to monitor the huge site and enable out of hours access to areas of the campus.

Stafford-based Castle proposed an integrated CCTV and access control system, in conjunction with TDSi. They chose Norbain SD to supply the equipment and it currently forms the largest integrated Vista CCTV/TDSi Access Control solution in the UK.

"The service we've received from Norbain has been very impressive," says Chris McGuinness, Castle's MD. "They were heavily involved in the specification process and we worked together to ensure that we had the best solution possible for the needs of the college."

In total, 27 internal and 14 external cameras were fitted throughout the campus. Vista VVRD4V8C vandal resistant domes were sited internally to ensure important access areas and rooms containing valuable equipment were monitored. Externally, a combination of static Baxall cameras and fully functional Denard domes were fitted around the campus to monitor students and staff during the day, and to record any unusual activity out of hours.

TDSi personnel, in consultation with the college, recommended an extension to the existing TDSi S Series based access control system. This was accomplished by upgrading and migrating to TDSi's eXguard Pro integrated security management system software platform. Additionally, 7 eXcel4 and 1 eXcel2 Controllers were added with 18 weatherproof TDSi Magnetic Stripe swipe readers.

Says John Basford, assistant student services manager. "It's inevitable that students will lose their cards from time to time, and when they do, we can put a stop on the card and issue a new one. Particularly useful is the facility to display the CCTV images and cameras on the site plans within the eXguard Pro software and to track a card around campus. If any card marked as lost is being used to try to gain access to an area, the camera will take a picture of the user and the system will then track their progress around the grounds, noting what areas they are attempting to access. Securing the whole of the 500-acre site wasn't going to be possible so a Vista camera was installed at the front gates to record the plates of any vehicle entering the site.

Although the installation went smoothly, there was an issue with one camera – a Denard 2060 dome required to be pole mounted at six metres to ensure a clear view of the buildings and the areas between them. Unfortunately, the best area of view was in close proximity to the point where power was provided to the entire site. The power company raised objections on safety grounds.

"Initially it was felt that during installation and, indeed, during future service calls, the power to the site would have to be halted when work was carried out," says McGuinness.

"This was obviously not a very practical solution and we needed to find a compromise." After long discussions with the power company and the rejection of a number of options on both sides, a compromise was found and the pole was lowered to five metres. "It was a tricky job to get the power company to agree to have the camera anywhere in the vicinity. It took a lot of explaining and persuasion on our part before they would agree to the new pole height."

A mix of modern and listed buildings added another complication. "In some buildings we worked with ceiling tiles and partitions, but in the older buildings, installing the cabling and cameras was far more tricky," he said.

Working with the college team of electricians, the installer had to carefully plan where each cable would go without altering the aesthetics: “It was an extremely time consuming process as each cable had to be hidden and each camera positioned as discreetly as possible. We spent a lot of time using fish wires to pull cables through very small areas and up through the building."

To ensure minimum disruption , McGuinness and his team came up with a modular solution. "Each building was treated as an individual installation with up to four buildings being fitted at any one time," he explains. This allowed the installations to be very flexible and so, if one building was required for use by staff and students, they could continue working on one of the other buildings in that set. This minimised disruption and allowed Castle to keep to schedule. Once each individual building was installed, it was then integrated into the system.

The installation has been carried out to allow each area of the campus to be managed locally to reduce any drain on the IT network. All the buildings equipped with the new system have a Vista PVD1500DG 15" monitor and Vista Columbus DVR. Says John Basford, assistant student services manager: "It has achieved exactly what Castle Security Solutions said it would and we've experienced very few teething problems which is quite an achievement over such a huge site. It's been a pleasure working with Castle Security Solutions."