According to ASSA ABLOY, multi-residential or multifamily housing is evolving as resident expectations and digital technologies promote rapid growth and disrupt long-standing business models. This is already Europe’s second-largest real-estate sector1. The Middle East is experiencing an unprecedented residential boom, propelled by rapid urbanisation and government initiatives like Vision 20302. For investors and property managers, choosing a smarter access solution will boost ROI and make daily living more convenient for residents.
Digital access solutions offer meaningful security and ease of use across generations, while also streamlining operations for property managers.
Daily benefits for building residents
Renters and homeowners see the daily benefits of this ‘connected living’, in both convenience and energy performance. In an apartment block, the digital access experience can begin at the building entrance. Here, the security benefits and broad compatibility of the smart intercom system, for example from DoorBird – with functions including HD video, night vision and remote opening of the entrance door connected to an electronic locking solution – helps property developers, owners and managers meet or exceed tenant and visitor expectations in convenience and safety.
Digital access can be implemented in various ways. One approach equips all access points throughout the property—including apartment entrances and common areas—with compatible hardware, managed centrally. Alternatively, only shared spaces may be integrated into the centralized system, while tenants use their own digital access solutions for their apartment doors and interiors. In both scenarios, the use of digital credentials by tenants enhances building security and improves the efficiency of access management processes. Whether choosing mobile keys or alternative digital credentials like smart keys, as the two real projects described below make clear, they feel the convenience benefits every day.
Smarter contractor management
Another key area is improving the day-to-day management of on-site service providers. For facilities teams, managing plumbers, HVAC technicians and many other contractors can be extremely time-consuming. How to get them in and out – securely and efficiently – without creating workload or compromising security?
With a digital solution, service providers carry access credentials which fit their precise time-period and location needs. Access can be issued for multiple premises, if they need it. For example, cleaners may be admitted five days each week between 6am and 9am. Their programmable credentials unlock site doors only during this window. During a refurbishment, electrical contractors may be issued with smart cards or mobile credentials which are valid for four days and then automatically expire.
Any lost credential is quickly deleted from a connected digital system: It won’t unlock doors, cabinets or any other access-controlled openings, providing building managers and tenants with peace of mind.
Real project #1: smart keys
The “Glück Auf” housing association in Gera, Germany, has a portfolio of almost 4,000 apartments. For their newest WeidenCarré project, they implemented a sustainable living concept by combining homes for young people, families and senior citizens at a single, multi-generational location. Housing association directors chose eCLIQ programmable key-based access, part of a suite of connected Digital Access Solutions from ASSA ABLOY, for all four new buildings at WeidenCarré.
Each tenant carries just one eCLIQ key which unlocks all their authorized openings: building entrances, apartment doors, garden gates, doors to utility rooms and other access points in the building. In addition to block tenants, facility managers, energy suppliers and technicians from external companies carry their own individual key programmed with the necessary authorizations. Daycare staff for the assisted-living homes receive temporary access via their eCLIQ keys, only as required.
“With eCLIQ, we have found an optimal solution for all our tenants – families, young people and senior citizens – and the various service providers – whether contractors or house cleaners,” says Uwe Klinger, Chairman, WBG ‘Glück Auf’ Gera eG. “A locking solution that is geared towards the needs of the users and not the other way round.”
The breadth of the eCLIQ cylinder range is another big advantage for multi-residential settings. An eCLIQ device can equip almost any door thanks to the modular set-up of the locking cylinders and the availability of more than 60 different cylinder types, for doors and other openings including cabinets, gates, machines and more.
Real project #2: mobile keys
When tenants or homeowners choose a multi-residential property, they place trust in its managers to deliver security without hassle or worry. Increasingly, however, they also seek convenience for their daily routine. In competitive urban and build-to-rent markets, or where housing providers seek to attract a younger demographic, an innovative digital solution becomes an aspirational part of the marketing mix, not just a security system.
When connected with digital access, home automation solutions can offer benefits such as smarter energy usage and real-time security notifications. The right digital access solution can even help multi-residences to go completely (or substantially) keyless. Out-the-box solutions like ASSA ABLOY SMARTairÒ include battery-powered cylinders and other devices to lock almost any opening, from high-traffic entrances and mailboxes to parking gates and front doors for homes. Building users gain access via cards, fobs, badges or their mobile phone. Facilities managers stay in control of their property – a handful of doors or thousands – from a web portal or via the Openow app.
This connected solution was deployed by Becorp at a Barcelona site with around 3,000 doors3. Residents gain access with mobile keys stored on their phone. This innovative approach has helped them to manage a large site more efficiently.
“Physical key management for any large development puts severe pressure on operational costs,” explains Becorp’s Xavier Casals. “Choosing SMARTair wireless locks and mobile management via the Openow app helps us to minimize them.”
Learn more about digital access solutions from ASSA ABLOY and download the solution guide: https://www.assaabloy.com/group/emeia/solutions/topics/access-control
1: property-forum.eu/news/multifamily-is-now-europes-second-biggest-real-estate-sector/10050
2: property.constructionweekonline.com/the-rise-of-community-living-in-the-middle-east
3: www.assaabloy.com/group/emeia/stories/customer-cases/becorp
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