Sustainable security meets luxury design

Project overview.

The Hotel Britomart is a new purpose-built luxury hotel near the waterfront, in downtown Auckland. With a focus on design, detail, and sustainability, the hand-made brick exterior and timber-lined rooms have led to a raft of awards including featuring on the Conde Nast Traveler Global Hot List 2021, being named Best Luxury Hotel at the Hospitality New Zealand Awards 2022, and the runner-up Most Sustainable Hotel by National Geographic. As a new addition to the expanding Britomart precinct, the security solution needed to combine with existing infrastructure, while dealing with the mixed-use demands of the shared hotel, retail, and office space.

A closer look.

"Britomart see that technology needs to be at people’s fingertips, and ICT is delivering on that. "- Tristan Bailey, Business Development Manager at Vision Systems.

Highlights:

> Easy to scale - new site added to existing Protege GX server 

> Integrations to wireless locks, elevators, VMS, and hotel management system 

> Multi-sector DESFire credentials for user friendly one-card solution 

> Access cards made from recycled wooden materials

The story.

A decade ago, The Hotel Britomart site was set up as a pop-up container bar for Rugby World Cup 2011. That’s how long ICT partners Vision Systems have been working with Britomart developers Cooper and Company. 

Originally, Britomart had a range of security systems throughout the buildings that lacked cohesion and functionality. It was difficult for management to get a clear overall picture. That’s why a decision was made to bring security together onto one unified platform using ICT.

Partnerships built on technology.

Tristan Bailey, Business Development Manager at Vision Systems explains, “For the last 10 years, we’ve been working with Britomart to bring technology to their sites, their tenants, and to their retail spaces. Britomart see that technology needs to be at people’s fingertips, and ICT is delivering on that.” 

During this time, Vision Systems have been responsible for access control, security, and CCTV at Britomart, overseeing a transformation from separate legacy systems to a unified solution with ICT as the preferred platform. 

“Part of the decision to move with Protege for the Britomart precinct is around the technology,” says Bailey. “ICT is developing technology all the time, enhancing their roadmap which is great to see. And the way they share it with their clients and the integrators is also great.”

Flexibility to scale.

Originally Protege WX was selected as the security platform for Britomart buildings. “The reason we chose Protege WX was based around managing different buildings over the different networks. Being a webbased system, it made it very user friendly for the facility manager on site,” commented Bailey. 

Going forward, Vision Systems chose to upgrade sites to Protege GX. “A decision was made to move to Protege GX and take advantage of the centralized server and additional functionality. Once the hardware and programming were setup, the intuitive interface meant the Britomart staff were up to speed in no time and now enjoy access to a wide range of third-party integrations and almost unlimited ability to scale.”

“With a centralized server, all buildings will report back to that now,” Bailey says. “Britomart are always extending their portfolio and doing renovations. Part of that is adding those buildings to the Protege GX server. It is very easy to add another site.”

Seamless integration and control.

Protege GX was chosen by Vision Systems to continue the expanding Britomart portfolio. Their solution for The Hotel Britomart sees the base build doors, the lifts, and all the guest rooms onto one platform. According to Bailey, “Pretty much every door within the hotel, even cleaners’ cupboards and server rooms are controlled through Protege.” 

Another area where Protege GX excels is the integrations required within the hotel to make sure the customer, and users, have a seamless experience. The Hotel Britomart has integrations between wireless locks on the guest rooms, the main base build system, and the hotel’s property management system (PMS). “So, Protege GX integrates with both Salto, and the PMS – Protel,” says Bailey. 

There is also elevator control using the access card, and connections with the VMS (Video Management System) which link back to the Facilities Management office where they have complete oversight over the hotel thanks to the Protege GX centralized server.

Multiple tenancies, one platform.

Not only does The Hotel Britomart provide luxury accommodation, it is also a mixed-use site with eateries crawling through the laneways, office tenancies filling the heritage buildings that flow seamlessly into the hotel itself. 

A constant hassle in buildings like this is people or tenancies need different keys or credentials to access different areas. Not only is this not ideal from a user perspective, it’s also inefficient if any changes need to be made. 

But as Bailey explains, thanks to the Protege GX centralized server, at The Hotel Britomart all these areas can be accessed using a single card. No matter whether it’s the SALTO wireless locks on the guest rooms, or external access through service doors, “The access control system in the hotel for staff and guests is the same system that the tenants and retailers use. It allows us to use one card across the entire building.”

Sustainable by design.

The Hotel Britomart is New Zealand’s first 5 Green Star hotel, certified by the NZ Green Building Council. For Vision Systems, this led to environmental considerations, and presented opportunities to show-off ways that security can be more sustainable. 

“Not only do the DESFire credentials offer industry leading encryption and multi-sector functionality, we implemented wooden access cards which are made from recycled materials and programmed for use with the Protege system. This fits part of the sustainability goal within the hotel,” says Bailey. 

Considerations included the decision to deploy low smoke zero halogen cable for the backbone of the hotel, right down to separating packaging at install into cardboard and plastics for recycling, which Bailey says, “really helped with the involvement that the hotel was trying to achieve around sustainability.”

The Outcome.

Driven by a centralized Protege GX server, it was easy to connect The Hotel Britomart to the existing Britomart precinct infrastructure. ICT delivers a modern, sustainable access experience for guests, while staff and tenants get ease-of-use from a single card. 

By including integrations with elevators, video surveillance, and hotel management systems, users and the facility managers benefit from the safety and visibility provided by the unified security solution.

Scalable and versatile.

The celebration of old and new at The Hotel Britomart combines heritage features and forward-looking technology, and demonstrates the scalable and versatile nature of Protege GX. With technology as the driving force, the decade-long partnership between Britomart, Vision Systems, and ICT shows the potential for more innovative solutions for growth ahead.

The partnership with ICT, Vision Systems, and Britomart goes back a long way. It’s great to see that Protege takes that technology, enhances it, and gives it to people so they can use it on a daily basis. - Tristan Bailey, Business Development Manager at Vision Systems.