At a museum, CLIQ technology and mechanical locks work together

Challenge

It took an £83 million investment and a decade’s work to create a new London site for the Design Museum. The project involved stellar architects, and opened to media acclaim in late 2016. This new space needed an access control system suited to such a high-profile project.

The key requirements were:

• Access management to form an integral part of a security system designed to protect high-value assets and exhibits
• Devices adapted to handling a contemporary 10,000 m2 site including 3 galleries, a restaurant/ café and an events space, with 100 permanent staff and hundreds (sometimes thousands) of daily visitors
• An electronic solution to work in tandem with the mechanical locks also deployed at the premises ∙ An access control supplier with a proven track record in the heritage and museums sector 
• The ability to handle multiple door sizes and quantities, and to meet British Standards compliance requirement

Solution

On the recommendation of the museum’s construction company, CLIQ access managment was selected as the best fit solution for this major new building. CLIQ PROTEC2 electromechanical locks manage access through 56 doors, forming part of a security ecosystem which also includes mechanical locks.

CLIQ is an easy-to-use access management system based on mechanical high-security disc cylinders combined with encrypted electronic locking and identification. Staff carry a single battery-powered CLIQ key, programmed with only the appropriate, preauthorised access permissions. “We felt a traditional cylinder locking system wouldn’t work for us, because if keys were lost we’d have to replace the whole suite,” explains Brian Reeves.

“By using CLIQ we can just replace the lost key or cancel access.” So, CLIQ saves the Design Museum time as well as money. Using the intuitive CLIQ software, security managers ensure every staff member only accesses the right areas. They can change or cancel a user’s permissions at any time, if personnel leave or change job roles. Contractors are issued with temporary programmable keys, which saves time formerly wasted escorting them around the building. CLIQ also enables integration with third-party cloud-based solutions — for control via a single, central management interface. “The system also allows us to audit access, giving us more granular control over the building,” adds Reeves.