A case study of the door entry system for the mixed-use development by St George PLC, part of the Berkeley Group, at Beaufort Park, in London NW9.
A mix of residential and commercial buildings it’s a phased ten-year construction project. The 25-acre site required door entry able to operate over long distances while being cost-effective to install. The product used is Comelit Group UK’s two-wire Simplebus.
The site has 24 blocks, each with its own stainless steel colour video digital entrance panel, proximity reader and audio unit with a dedicated call button for two-way communication with the central concierge. Using Cat5e cabling, each dwelling is linked to a central switchboard in one of the buildings – with no extra twin cable needed to power the monitor.
So far, 1466 apartments have been completed with various entry phones from Comelit’s range, including Genius, Planux and Planux Lux. While some of the distances from the entrance panel to the concierge exceed 800 metres, this distance was overcome using two-wire products, for connectivity across the development when distributed across several building risers. Unlike polarised cables that have, the door entry firm claims, limited functionality, this non-polarised alternative can be used in any direction. The door entry firm claim installation cost savings of up to half that of a traditional system.
Comelit add that their Simplebus operates with any type of cable: dedicated Comelit cable, shielded or unshielded, straight or twisted pair cable. For refurbishment work, it allows existing cables to be used without having to remove them or carry out masonry work to allow new conduits to be installed, the company adds.
St George was also required to offer affordable housing alongside market-priced housing. Comelit was asked to supply a variety of internal monitors from its range to suit the differing specifications of each apartment. Comelit’s Genius monitor was used for the entry-level apartments, with Planux and Planux Lux for the higher-end units, all of which work on Simplebus.
Francesca Boeris, Comelit’s UK Sales Director, said: “Due to the simplicity of Simplebus, we were able to meet and exceed the requirements stipulated by St George. Specifically, we were able to supply a system that was robust, flexible and most importantly, allowed for a cost-effective and easy installation.”
