Access Control and Door Entry Installation in Melbourne

Access control installation across Melbourne

An access control project starts at the doors, not the software. We walk the site door by door. For each one we check what it’s made of, how it locks today, whether it’s on an escape route, and how a cable can get from it to the comms room. That walk decides the hardware and most of the cost.

From there the installation covers the readers and door controllers, locking hardware suited to each door, lock power, request-to-exit, and the cabling back to the network. Credentials, schedules and groups are set up in the console before handover, so staff can use the doors on day one.

We install across metropolitan Melbourne, including the CBD, Bayside, the eastern, northern and south-eastern suburbs and the Mornington Peninsula. Geelong and regional Victoria are handled as scheduled projects.

What each door needs

The reader on the wall is a small part of a controlled door. A typical door involves:

• A reader for cards, fobs or phones
• A door controller, in the comms room or a nearby enclosure
• Locking hardware, such as an electric strike, magnetic lock or electrified mortice lock, chosen to suit the door
• A power supply for the lock, with battery backup where the door must behave predictably in an outage
• Request-to-exit, so people can leave without a credential
• Cabling from the door to the controller and the network

Doors on escape routes must release when required. Egress and fire requirements are settled for each door before any hardware is chosen, and they take precedence over access rules.

Why UniFi Access suits most small and mid-sized sites

For a business already running UniFi, Access adds doors to a system it already uses. The cabling, PoE switching and console are in place, there’s no separate access control server, and there’s no per-door licence fee.

Day to day, the benefits are practical. Revoking a departing staff member’s access is instant, with no keys to recover or locks to rekey. Cleaners and contractors can be given access only at the hours they work. And because door events sit next to UniFi Protect camera footage in the same console, reviewing an incident is considerably faster than matching up timestamps from two systems.

When a dedicated access control system suits better

UniFi Access isn’t the right answer for every site. A dedicated access control platform is usually a better fit when a site needs:

• interlocks, mantraps, anti-passback or monitored duress
• tight integration with an intruder alarm system
• prescribed retention or audit reporting that has to be verified against the platform
• unusual hardware, such as heavy industrial doors, gates or boom gates

The same applies to a site with a working system and hundreds of issued credentials, where migrating may cost more than consolidating saves. We’ll tell you if that’s the case rather than fitting the platform we know best.

Plan doors with cameras and cabling

Doors, cameras and access points all depend on the same things: cable to the right places, PoE budget on the switches, and space and power in the comms room. When doors and cameras are planned together, the cabling and switching overlap, and the combined job costs much less than two separate ones.

Timing matters most. During a fit-out or move, running cable to the doors while the ceilings are open costs a fraction of doing it in a finished building. That holds even when the doors won’t be commissioned until later. Office relocation and fit-out technology covers planning it as part of a move.

Entry records are personal information

Access control creates a log of who went where and when. Like camera footage, that’s a record about identifiable people, and it’s worth deciding a few things before go-live. How long are entry records kept, who can see them, are they used for anything beyond security, and how are staff told? Using door logs for timekeeping, for example, changes the picture considerably. Settling this early also tends to produce a cleaner configuration.