The commercial real estate market is projected to grow by an impressive $427.3 billion between 2024 and 2029.
Fueled by rapid urbanization and population growth, this surge has created a rising demand for mixed-use and multi-tenant buildings, with landmark projects such as Neom in Saudi Arabia and One Bangkok demonstrating this global trend.
With urbanization on the rise and a growing global demand for flexible, multi-tenant buildings, managing access control in these spaces is more important than ever.
However, it's also more complex as property owners, facility managers, and security professionals face mounting pressure to balance convenience, tenant satisfaction, and regulatory compliance with centralized and scalable solutions.
Traditional commercial building security solutions remain an overlooked yet critical inefficiency in this transformation, leading to heightened security risks and contributing to increased operating costs.
These outdated multi-tenancy access control methods are no longer sufficient to meet the needs of today’s modern, commercial buildings.
It’s time to rethink what access control can achieve.
As the commercial real estate market grows, Gallagher's smart access control for office buildings simplifies security management, addressing the need for scalable, secure, and efficient access, all while unlocking more value for property managers, tenants, and visitors.
Common Security Challenges in Multi-Tenancy Buildings
Traditionally, managing commercial building security solutions has been a source of inefficiency, unnecessary risk, and inflated costs. The absence of secure tenant access management exposes multi-tenancy buildings to several challenges:
- Varied user groups and access levels: Multi-tenancy buildings host a diverse range of individuals including tenants, building staff, contractors, and visitors. Effective multi-tenancy access control ensures each group has tailored access permissions based on their roles and allowed areas of movement.
- Security and compliance risks: Ensuring security and compliance in multi-tenant buildings is a complex task, requiring commercial building security solutions to protect tenants, assets, and sensitive data. Effective systems must integrate physical and cybersecurity, enforce competency-based access rules, and streamline visitor management for multi-tenant buildings to ensure safety, compliance, and smooth operations.
- Operational inefficiencies: When tenant and building management systems operate in isolation, inefficiencies emerge, leading to increased administrative burdens and security vulnerabilities. Without centralized secure tenant access management, tasks that could be automated through integration must be handled manually.
- Integration with existing systems: Commercial building security solutions must work seamlessly with CCTV, alarms, and building management systems. Integrating these systems allows them to share data in real time, enhancing situational awareness and enabling faster, more accurate decision-making. Without integrated security systems for shared spaces, security measures can become fragmented, leading to operational inefficiencies, increased risks, and overall compromised building management.
These security challenges in multi-tenancy buildings are magnified due to the complexity of managing access for diverse users, frequent personnel changes, and the need to protect shared spaces. Without integrated security systems for shared spaces, properties face increased enterprise security costs due to loss of productivity, unauthorized access, and vulnerabilities in outdated systems.
How Gallagher’s Access Control Solutions Address These Challenges
Gallagher Security’s comprehensive commercial building security solutions are designed to go beyond traditional building systems to deliver a modern experience for property managers and tenants.
At the core of our multi-tenancy access control system is our powerful software, Command Centre, offering you endless integration and access possibilities while unlocking greater business value by enhancing efficiency, reducing security costs, and redefining spaces.
Centralized access management with Command Centre
Whether managing dozens or thousands of users, Gallagher’s Command Centre delivers centralized multi-tenancy access control for commercial buildings, providing benefits such as:
- Flexible access permissions: Command Centre offers precise control over building access, enabling tailored permissions for individuals, groups, or entire organizations. And by configuring access groups, property managers seamlessly manage tenant access to various building zones, including floors, parking areas, and shared spaces, with ease and flexibility.
- Real-time monitoring: Command Centre provides a real-time site wide view of access events, enabling property managers to detect and respond to unauthorized access attempts, reducing the risk of security breaches.
- Comprehensive auditing: Command Centre supports comprehensive auditing allowing administrators to generate detailed reports of access activity for compliance and overall security management.
With centralized access management through Command Centre, managing multi-tenancy spaces becomes simpler and more secure, empowering property managers to focus on delivering superior tenant experiences.
Flexible and scalable access control for multiple tenants
Gallagher‘s Command Centre enables building managers to streamline Cardholder Management reliably and efficiently enforcing access rules while supporting the site's policies and processes, providing benefits such as:
- Customizable access permissions: Tailor access to individual tenants, employees, and visitors, ensuring each individual or group has the appropriate level of access. Command Centre allows for easy adjustments, such as adding or removing tenants and modifying access as needs evolve. Additionally, it supports real-time changes, such as temporary access for contractors.
- Third-party integrations: Permissions can be imported from third-party systems such as HR or tenant management systems into Command Centre, saving time and reducing the risk of human error.
- Personalized actions: Configuration of customized actions within Command Centre enables automated responses such as turning on or off heating, air conditioning, or lighting based on access events, saving energy and enhancing operational efficiency.
- Cloud-based access control: Command Centre Web, Gallagher's cloud-based access control for commercial properties, provides further flexibility enabling property managers to perform essential tasks like adding or removing cardholders from anywhere with an internet connection. This eliminates the need for property or facilities managers to be physically onsite, streamlining operations and saving valuable time.
Smart credentialing and keyless entry
When it comes to smart access control for office buildings, flexibility is key. Command Centre supports a range of credentials including mobile credentials, keycards, biometrics, and PIN codes, eliminating the need for physical key management and reducing costs and security risks.
- Digital Wallet Credentials: Gallagher supports mobile credentials to be stored in a digital wallet, such as Apple Wallet. Tenants can simply tap their phone against a reader device to gain access, streamlining movement throughout the building.
- Mobile Credentials: With Gallagher’s Mobile Connect App, smartphones become secure, convenient access credentials enabling users to move effortlessly through secure zones.
- Biometrics: Gallagher integrates with leading biometric providers, offering fast, contactless, and secure access through advanced technologies like palm or facial recognition.
- Keycards: Gallagher supports a range of physical cards, including MIFARE proximity cards and BLE powered cards and tags, providing flexible options for different tenant needs.
- Pin Codes: For enhanced security, Gallagher’s T20 readers support PIN code authentication, complete with duress functionality and dual cardholder support.
Seamless integration with building management systems
Gallagher delivers advanced commercial building security solutions, by synchronizing with CCTV, alarms, elevators, and smart automation tools to deliver greater efficiency, reduced costs, and more comfortable, sustainable environments for tenants.
With integrated security systems for shared spaces, tasks such as adjusting air conditioning, heating, and lighting can be automated based on occupancy patterns and easily managed through a single platform. For example, a task as simple as turning off the lighting and relaxing the air conditioning settings when a security alarm system has been armed saves energy, reduces costs, and eases the administrative burden on facilities staff who would otherwise handle these tasks manually.
Unifying BMS and multi-tenancy access control into single intuitive interface, provides advantages beyond automation. From one centralized platform, administrators can manage cardholders, credentials, elevators, garage access, room availability, temperature settings, air quality, alarms, and so much more. Tasks that used to take hours can be reduced to minutes, freeing up employees to spend more time on core duties.
Global real estate outlooks predict supply shortages due to the drop off in new building activity, making it increasingly important to understanding how spaces are utilized. Command Centre provides valuable data on occupancy and movement patterns, enabling property owners to optimize layouts and reduce underutilized spaces, creating better office configurations that enhance both cost efficiency and the employee experience.
Integrating visitor management for multi-tenant buildings amplifies these benefits by enabling seamless oversight of who is accessing the building. Visitors can be pre-approved and issued temporary credentials, reducing bottlenecks at reception and enhancing both security and the visitor experience. The system can track visitor movement, ensuring restricted zones remain secure while supporting organizations to maintain compliance with safety regulations.
By integrating multi-tenancy access control with BMS, Gallagher’s Command Centre delivers a smarter, more efficient approach to building management, saving time, reducing costs, and ensuring spaces are used to their full potential.
Enhanced security and compliance features
Smart access control for office buildings, such as Command Centre, provides precise control over who can access specific areas of the building. Using role-based access control (RBAC), administrators can quickly and easily assign access permissions at an individual, group, or organizational level, minimizing security risks and preventing unauthorized entry.
Additionally, automated compliance reporting is seamlessly integrated into the process, providing detailed logs of access events. This not only streamlines audit processes but also ensures organizations are always prepared for regulatory inspections, enhancing both security and compliance readiness.
Real-World Case Study: Gallagher’s Access Control in a Multi-Tenant Commercial Building
ARIA Property Group implemented Gallagher's multi-tenancy access control solution to address the security challenges of their shared office building, Pier Place.
With 14,000m2 of office space, 1-4 tenants per floor, and dedicated shared spaces, ARIA needed a commercial building security solution that ensured safety while allowing seamless movement for authorized individuals.
Gallagher’s smart access control for office buildings provided enhanced security by effectively preventing unauthorized access, a critical requirement in a multi-tenancy environment. The system also streamlined access management, enabling quick updates to access permissions as tenants end their leases or when employees join a company.
Additionally, ARIA gained comprehensive monitoring capabilities, with detailed access event logs that could be paired with CCTV footage for investigations or tracking attendance.
The system’s scalability allows for future integration with solutions such as CCTV and visitor management for multi-tenant buildings, while the improved security measures have strengthened ARIA's relationship with tenants. “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 Jordaan, Operations Manager for Pier Place.
By implementing Gallagher's multi-tenancy access control solutions, ARIA Property Group has unlocked more value through enhanced security, efficiency, and improved tenant relationships.
Future Trends in Multi-Tenancy Access Control
Access control systems are evolving rapidly, driven by technological advancements and changing user expectations. The following are key trends shaping the future of multi-tenancy access control:
- Cloud-based access control for commercial properties: Cloud solutions are reshaping the security industry by delivering agile, scalable, and highly effective protections that maximize users’ security investments and transform how businesses operate. Their ability to gather and rapidly collate rich data sets will give organizations the ability to identify trends, predict behaviors, and make more informed decisions.
- Biometrics and mobile credentials: There is a growing shift from traditional access cards to biometric technology and mobile credentials. These solutions are gaining traction due to their enhanced convenience, improved security, and alignment with the digital transformation efforts in both commercial and residential sectors.
- Smart building technology: These solutions deliver smarter automation and data driven insights. By reducing manual interventions and the administrative burden on facilities staff these advantages increase efficiency, sustainability, and tenant experience while enhancing commercial property management.
The evolution of multi-tenancy access control is unlocking greater business value from commercial building security solutions. With innovations like Gallagher's solutions, security is evolving from a mere protective measure to a powerful tool that enhances efficiency, sustainability, and tenant satisfaction.
From real-time centralized management to space utilization and automation benefits, effective enterprise security for commercial properties, optimizes operations, reduces costs, and ensures that property owners provide tenants with the seamless experiences they expect in competitive real estate markets.
By implementing Gallagher's integrated security systems for shared spaces, commercial property owners and landlords can achieve a scalable, future-proof access solution, tailored to meet the demands of modern tenants.
Improve security and efficiency in your multi-tenant building with Gallagher’s access control solutions. Contact us today.