How ARIA Property Group Enhanced Office Building Security

Discover the measures to enhance office building security and how ARIA Property Group partnered with Gallagher to overcome unique challenges.

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About ARIA Property Group

ARIA Property Group is a privately held, closed-end commercial property fund operating across South Africa with growing offshore exposure. ARIA adopts a flexible and innovative approach to property investment, allowing them to identify undervalued or underperforming assets, to capitalize on opportunities and to add value.

The challenge

Pier Place is a vibrant multi-tenant office building in the heart of the Cape Town Foreshore, overlooking scenes of the beach, with a slice of South Africa’s famous Table Mountain in view. With 15 floors, ARIA Property Group sees more than 800 office workers, contractors, and visitors, from 14 different companies, going through their doors each day. ARIA Property Group sought to overcome the unique security challenges of a shared office building with robust access control to ensure a safe and secure environment for all.

When ARIA Property Group was planning an exciting new redevelopment for the 14,000m² tower, Pier Place, their goal was to choose an access control solution that provided effortless site management – allowing those with access rights to move freely and preventing those without access rights from entering where they should not.

Given there can be one to four tenants per floor, with a shared dedicated common space that includes seating, meeting, and breakaway areas, there was a real need to provide managed access. In this fast paced and evergrowing city, the busy central location of the building creates additional security concerns, including a need to keep vagrants from entering the property.

“The Gallagher system is straightforward and easy to use - with its endless integration possibilities, I’m sure we will expand our solution in the future.”


Jacques Jordaan, Operations Manager, Pier Place

The Gallagher solution

ARIA Property Group decided Gallagher was the best access control solution to deliver secure site management and office building security. Gallagher’s Command Centre software platform was installed, along with security cameras at the critical entry and exit points, creating a virtual barrier around the building that has 24/7 monitoring.

According to ARIA Property Group, Gallagher’s solution provides effective office building security in an unobtrusive manner. People simply badge their access cards to a reader mounted next to each access-controlled door or turnstile. There are two points of entry for workers and visitors – one via the undercover car park, and the second is the main entrance, which has two waist height turnstiles each with a reader for entry and exit. There is also a third entry point for contractors.

With comprehensive office building security in place, ARIA Property Group can operate with minimal fulltime security personnel on site. Three guards are situated on site 24/7 covering each of the external entry points, and a third-party tactical response team is on standby should a larger security situation unfold, or support is needed outside of business hours.

The business value

Jacques Jordaan, Operations Manager for Pier Place says the largest security issue for the building is vagrants trying to gain access to the building. “If anyone were to slip into the building, they wouldn’t be able to gain access past reception. This is where we see the true value of access control – it stops unwanted intruders from accessing the tenanted floors and helps security staff apprehend these people quickly. If you do not have an access card, you cannot get past reception. It’s that simple,” says Jacques. 

“Enabling and disabling permissions is made easy with Gallagher’s Command Centre,” adds Jacques. “If a tenant ends their lease, or one of their workers joins or leaves the company, their access privileges can be added or deleted quickly and efficiently. If someone loses their access card, access privileges associated with that card can be deleted immediately.” 

A comprehensive audit trail of access events is recorded in the Gallagher system. Jacques uses these records for a range of purposes and finds the reporting function particularly valuable when tenants request a report on employee time and attendance. “The reporting functionality of the system is very user friendly. It takes me five to ten minutes to pull a comprehensive report on an entire floor – when staff badged in and out, and how long they took for lunch.”

If required, the Gallagher audit trail can be matched with CCTV footage to get a full picture of events at specific times.

Jacques can rest easy knowing who goes where and when. “When you have a number of tenants’ assets to protect – workers’ safety, tenants’ intellectual property, and the equipment on each floor – it’s absolutely essential that we can monitor and manage people’s movements throughout the building.

ARIA Property Group’s Gallagher office building security solution is fully scalable so it can grow alongside their requirements. In the future, ARIA Property Group has the option to integrate its CCTV and Visitor Management System, so that a full audit trail of access and security events can be maintained. Additionally, they can look to integrate their Building Management Systems when the time is right.

“We are interested in streamlining our building management systems to reduce energy consumption, identify critical faults early, and support a shared work environment while saving time and money,” says Jacques.

“Our reputation with our tenants is enhanced as they recognize that we’re taking all possible steps to ensure that their people and assets are protected,” says Jacques. “The Gallagher system is straightforward and easy to use - with its endless integration possibilities, I’m sure we will expand our solution in the future.”

Contact our team today to learn more about our office building security solutions, get expert advice, or find out how we can help keep your business running smoothly.

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