News

Bullring keeps its parking control safely under programmable lock and key!

Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham has replaced all of the ‘traditional’ locks on its APT SkiData pay-on-foot units with innovative programmable electronic locks and ‘cyber’ keys from Ez-Assure, to dramatically improve the effectiveness of its routine and extraordinary maintenance operations, as well as enhancing management control and security.

With the previous system, the control room held one set of keys per car park, with each set opening all of the pay machines for that particular car park. The keys had to be ‘signed out’ and returned as required. Since only one engineer could use a set at any one time, it meant any difficulties experienced at another pay station had to wait until the keys were returned to the control room before being rectified.

As Ian Crumpton, the Bullring’s Accounts and Administration Manager explains: “As with any pay station there are occasional faults, even with the reliability of the APT SkiData technology. At weekends we can experience up to two faults an hour – mostly as a result of user error – and this takes up a disproportionate amount of our assistants’ time. Previously the pay stations had a lock on the front door, with further locks internally for the note and coin boxes.

“The keys would be collected, the fault fixed and then the keys would have to be returned; in the meantime another attendant might be waiting for the keys to come back so that a problem could be fixed at another pay station on a different level. Given that on average our assistants walk about eight miles a day, you can imagine how inefficient this was proving walking to and from the control room. It was also proving difficult to manage who had the keys, and prevent them from being lost or mis-used.”

Ian found the answer in the new Ez-Assure technology, retrofitted to the APT SkiData stations. Ez-Assure offers a web-based management solution for controlling physical access via electronic keys and locks. One key can be programmed to unlock either all parts of the pay station (ie the internal locks on the notebook and cash box for example) or just the front door (ie to allow access to the ticket coder to fix paper jams), depending on what is required.

“The electronic locks, together with the web-based administration centre, provide comprehensive online reporting and a complete audit trail of all events for total security management,” Ian adds. “Access permissions can be scheduled and key expirations set so that they are disabled when not in use. Lost keys can be easily disabled online.

“Each member of the team now has an assigned electronic key which they are issued at the beginning of the day,” Ian continues. “The key is pre-programmed so the parking specialists have keys that unlock the locks inside the pay station but the remainder of the duty assistants can only open the front door which is sufficient for them to resolve the most common issues. The assistants carry their key with them for the duration of their shift and all activity is recorded.

“At the end of their shift, the cyber keys are returned to the docking station and the information is downloaded to the secure web-based administration centre where I can see a full status report. It lists which machines have been opened and when, and highlights when attempts at un-authorised access have been made. We have a complete audit trail; it also helps identify areas that may require additional training so that issues can be resolved more quickly.

“The security carrier also has two keys,” Ian says, “one that allows the cash collector to take the cash and note boxes from the machines and another key that is kept at the depot to open the boxes. This helps with reconciliation, as we can see exactly when the money is processed and highlights the precise timings between the cash boxes being taken from the machines, the cash being removed from the boxes and the money entering our account.

“We only had a finite amount of money to spend, but considering the benefits that we are seeing now, it is proving well worth the investment. Previously we had costly problems if a key got stuck or broken in the lock, which happened on more than one occasion. It meant that the respective lock in each machine also had to be changed. The new technology also offers additional security. If a key goes missing we can disable it so that if it gets into the wrong hands it can’t be used. Importantly, our car park attendants can now spend more time doing what they are meant to be doing, patrolling the car parks, rather than spending costly time traveling back and forth to the control room. The resulting impact is that problems with the pay stations are resolved faster, causing less customer inconvenience.”

Bullring Shopping Centre opened in September 2003, and uses APT SkiData parking technology throughout. It has three car parks – the Centre car park and the multi-storey Selfridges Moor Street car park, along with the Debenhams Edgbaston Street car park above the indoor market, which was formerly owned by the Council. The Bullring has a catchment of 4.3 million within a 45-minute drive and in 2006 it received 38.6 million visitors with 1.8 million cars using the car parks.

APT SkiData’s APT 450 parking system is deployed in each car park, covering 21 entry and exit lanes, with payment facilitated through 22 pay-on-foot stations. The technology - with its distinctive high-grade steel, cast aluminium and polycarbonate hardware now synonymous with the best in innovation and design - was chosen to partner the Bullring through its association with Hammerson PLC – one of three companies making up The Birmingham Alliance responsible for the Bullring development. APT SkiData has worked with Hammerson at other major shopping centres including The Oracle in Reading, The Shires in Leicester and WestQuay in Southampton.

Bullring is the largest city centre retail regeneration scheme in Europe. The overall investment by the Birmingham Alliance – which includes Henderson Global Investors and Land Securities PLC - covers more than 40 acres in the city centre, with a 125,300m² shopping centre made up of two principal malls trading over three levels and housing 166 units including the flagship stores – Selfridges and Debenhams.

The three car parks are predominantly aimed at shopping centre users, with most visitors staying for an average of two to three hours, although longer at the weekends. Selfridges Moor Street and Centre car parks are open from 6am to midnight and Debenhams Edgbaston remains open 24 hours a day.

“All of the staff now say that their lives are much easier. They only have one key to worry about rather than four, they know they can fix faults quicker so they are much more confident and the shoppers go away happy that they weren’t delayed too long,” Ian concludes.

Reader Reply Number 105050
APT-SkiData Limited
The Power House Chantry Place Headstone Lane Harrow HA3 6NY
t:: 0208 421 2211
f:: 0208 428 6622
e:: skidata@aptcontrols.co.uk