August 6, 2024
Cheltenham is a large Spa Town and Borough Located on the edge of the Cotswolds, in the county of Gloucestershire. Cheltenham Borough homes is a top performing ALMO (Arm’s Length Management Organisation) responsible for the management and maintenance of Cheltenham Borough Council’s housing stock and housing and homeless services.
CBH provide high quality services for over 5,000 homes made up of general needs, sheltered and leasehold properties plus their own stock. They put customers right at the heart of what they do and actively seek to engage them in shaping services, decision making, monitoring and scrutiny activities. They consistently deliver high quality services that generate high levels of customer satisfaction.
In addition to carrying out property allocation, repairs, rent collection, homelessness services and estate management, Cheltenham Borough Homes are responsible for ensuring the security and safety of the tenants living in its 300+ housing blocks.
Over the last few years Cheltenham have led the way with the implementation of digital services around the Borough and will be one of the first areas in the UK to disconnect the existing Analogue services prior to the full UK role out planned for 2025. This led to Cheltenham Borough homes looking at the services they currently supply to residents and highlighted that their current Access Control Solution wouldn’t be suitable in the “Digital Age”.
They therefore carried out the necessary market research to identify suitable candidates for a system upgrade and a tender was produced and went out to the market in late 2020.
The tender was awarded in January 2021 and the successful candidate was Harrold Jones Services Limited using the Pearl Lion Cloud 9 Access control Solution.
Phil Povey, Sales Manager at Harrold Jones Services Limited, stated that “After looking at all the options available to us, it was clear that Pearl Lion’s Cloud 9 Access Control Solution was the correct one for the client. Using IP technology, it connects all the Residential buildings using an IP infrastructure and Connects to Pearl Lions cloud Via a 4G Modem.
Richard Best National Sales Director at Pearl Lion, explains, ‘The Cloud9 Access Control system has been designed to allow the client to manage the system from any location using a PC, Tablet device or Smart phone. The Client can address technical issues, deal with key fob management, examine diagnostics, view system status, and gain access to event logs and reports – all from a remote location. Without the cloud any problems and issues previously had to be dealt with by office-based individuals, which is obviously restrictive and can lead to a delayed response. The system has also been designed so the client can directly connect to their fibre network once this becomes available in each building, removing the requirement for 4G connectivity if they wish.’
Phil Povey further commented, ‘The system will make the clients life easier allowing them to address connection issues, manage the system and troubleshoot from wherever they happen to be. Not only is this convenient, it also saves a huge amount of time. Multiple users are able to have permission to use the system remotely – with each person only given access to information that relates directly to their role. One of the main features of the system is that it is fully auditable, meaning that any activity can be monitored in real time and traced directly back to a specific user via their unique password.’
Cheltenham Borough Homes strictly adheres to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and has implemented a strong data protection policy. Pearl Lions Cloud 9 Product uses Microsoft’s azure cloud platform which guarantees all data is held in the UK and certified to the ISO 27001 standard for information security management.
The Cloud 9 system also offers Cheltenham some less obvious benefits. Richard Best comments, ‘The data collected by the access control system can be used to issue an alert if a resident’s key fob hasn’t been used during a specific period, identify patterns of behaviour that could suggest illegal activity, flag-up if someone is subletting a property or even detect if a tenant is using a cloned key fob. If an alert is activated, measures can then be taken to deactivate a specific key fob. Furthermore, the Cloud 9 system has also helped Cheltenham adopt a business-as-usual approach during the coronavirus pandemic by limiting physical interaction, while still enabling a prompt and effective response.’
As well as enjoying the operational advantages of Pearl Lion’s Cloud 9 Access Control, Cheltenham Borough Homes has also began upgrading their Door Entry Stock to Pearl Lions full IP Video Door Entry systems which allows them to not only monitor the full systems on site, but it also allows them to tailor the system to provide additional services all via the same cloud system if they wish including call centre services, repairs reporting and concierge services to name but a few.
For further information please email: enquiries@pearllion.com
