Residents of a small local housing association in the Wirral are being protected by an innovative door entry system from Intratone, one of Europe’s largest access control specialists.
Wirral Methodist Housing Association (HA) completed works on a residential block of 24 flats over three storeys two years ago, but in more recent times the accommodation has been upgraded to cater specifically for less mobile residents.
Soon after moving into the apartments, electricians were regularly being called to site to relocate the existing fixed door entry handsets.
Maintec Ltd, a local access control installer, was tasked with trying to establish a more cost-effective and time efficient solution that was easy for the elderly residents to use.
On that basis, Steve Cranshaw, Managing Director of Maintec Ltd, specified Intratone’s Visio 3G door entry system. Each of the residents is given their own fob which allows them easy access; for visitors, the system calls the house phone via GSM, and if no-one answers it then rings a second designated number, normally a mobile phone. Residents simply have to press the hash key on their device to allow entry.
David Corran, Head of Asset Management at Wirral Methodist Housing Association says it is proving to be an excellent solution for their residents: “The installation was very straight forward – it only took about half a day. We tailored the settings slightly to each resident’s requirements – in one flat, for example, it is set to ring the house phone twice instead of a mobile.
“Whenever we have had an issue, the support teams respond almost immediately. I would not hesitate to specify this product on other similar sites, especially where there is a predominance of residents with mobility issues.”
“There was a short learning curve while residents got used to the new system, and now everyone is much happier and feels far more secure and accessible,” Steve Cranshaw adds. “Intratone’s products are innovative and very economically priced so we are able to work on sites like this where the budget can be tighter.”
Anthony Plasse, UK Sales Manager for Intratone, says its products are flexible enough to suit a wide range of sites and applications: “Our access control and door entry systems are installed across Social Housing, Private Properties and HAs all over the UK and Europe, and prove popular for residents of all ages, but especially the elderly, because they are very easy to use.
“Installers and customers also like them because they are very easy to install and competitively priced.”