Access Control and Door Entry in Leeds
Control who gets in, and know who did. Video door entry, gate automation, fobs and app-based access for homes and commercial premises.
An alarm deals with people who should not be there. Access control deals with everyone else (staff, family, cleaners, contractors, deliveries) and with the ordinary problem of keys.
Keys are a poor way to manage a building. They get copied without your knowledge, lost without being reported, and kept by people who no longer need them. A departed keyholder is an open-ended risk you cannot audit, and the only true fix is changing the locks.
Access control replaces that with something you can actually manage: permissions that can be granted in seconds and revoked just as quickly, and a record of what happened.
For homes
Most domestic requirements are simpler than commercial, and usually come down to two things: seeing who is at the door before opening it, and letting people in without being there.
Video door entry. See and speak to whoever is at the door from your phone, whether you are in the kitchen or at work. Genuinely useful for deliveries, and a real deterrent to anyone trying it on with a doorstep approach.
Gate and driveway entry. Automated gates with intercom, keypad or app control. Common on larger properties around Alwoodley, Adel, Harewood and Wetherby, and something we install regularly.
Keyless entry. Codes or fobs instead of keys, so a cleaner or dog walker can be given access without a key that might not come back.
Integrated with your alarm. Because we install Ajax systems too, entry and alarm can work together rather than as separate purchases with separate apps.
For businesses
Commercially, access control usually pays for itself on administration rather than security.
Immediate revocation. Someone leaves, their access is removed in seconds. No lock change, no chasing a fob.
Per-person, per-door, per-time. Cleaners who can enter one entrance between six and eight. Contractors with access to one area, for one day. Staff who can reach the workshop but not the office.
An audit trail. Who entered, which door, when. Invaluable when something needs explaining, and required by some insurers and compliance regimes.
No more rekeying. The running cost of lost keys on a building with any turnover is higher than people expect.
Multi-tenant and shared premises. Door entry for buildings with several occupiers, including separate calling and access per unit.
What we install
- Video door entry, wired and wireless
- Audio intercoms, single and multi-occupancy
- Fob, card and keypad systems
- App-based access
- Gate and barrier automation, including intercom integration
- Integration with Ajax alarm systems
- Door supplies, containment and associated electrical work, our own trade
Doing it properly
Two things separate a system that lasts from one that becomes a nuisance.
The electrical side. Access control involves door supplies, containment, lock power and often fail-safe or fail-secure decisions that affect how the building behaves in a power cut or a fire. This is electrical work, and it is where systems fitted by non-electricians most often disappoint. It is our own trade, done in-house.
Thinking about the exceptions. What happens when the power fails, when someone forgets their fob, when a delivery arrives out of hours, or when the building has to be evacuated. We would rather work through those at survey than have you discover them later.
Common questions
That depends on a decision we make together at survey. Some doors should fail open for escape, others should fail locked for security, and where a door is on an escape route the fire strategy governs. Systems are specified with battery backup where appropriate.
Cancel it from the system in seconds and issue another. No locks, no locksmith, no risk from the missing one.
Yes. With video door entry or app-based access you can see who is there and let them in from anywhere with a signal.
Often, depending on the age and type of the motor. Send us a photograph or bring us out.
Yes, installing both is one of the advantages of using a single company, and they can be set up so entry and disarming work together sensibly.
From a single front door to a whole site. The specification changes considerably with scale, which is why this one really needs a survey rather than a price over the phone.
Sometimes. We will look and tell you honestly.
Book a security survey
Tell us about your property and we will arrange a visit. No obligation, and no hard sell.