A building in the centre of London is using IoT software and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve security.

Genetec, a Canadian provider of unified security, public safety, operations and business intelligence technology, is centralising the control of IoT and physical security at 22 Bishopsgate. The software is helping increase the return on the facility’s smart building investments, adding value for visitors and tenants.

Sitting in the heart of the City of London’s financial district, 22 Bishopsgate is a multi-tenanted commercial development that stands 278m tall and comprises 118 million square metres of floor space across its 62 storeys. Completed in 2020, it offers a secure workplace for up to 12,000 employees while also maintaining public access to amenities including a viewing gallery, restaurant and gymnasium.

“The beauty of what 22 Bishopsgate has created is that the more the building is used, the smarter it becomes,” said Nick Smith, account executive at Genetec. “We’re proud to be providing them with the tools through which their smart building vision has been realised.”

From the start, the vision was for 22 Bishopsgate to be a people-centred smart building that would continually evolve to meet the changing needs of its occupants. Technology would be intelligently deployed in pursuit of new standards for sustainability, connectivity and workplace wellbeing.

As a unified security platform, Genetec’s Security Center could meet their needs such as streamlining and consolidating all aspects of security and operations. The open architecture also allows it to pull in data from a range of devices and present this to its operators through one intuitive interface.

“The danger of relying on lots of different systems is that many alarms are generated without necessarily being presented to the right people at the right time,” said Glenn Cowell, smart systems manager at 22 Bishopsgate. “The beauty of the Security Center platform is its in-built customisation and flexibility. We own it and know we can shape it to our precise needs.”

One of the first priorities for 22 Bishopsgate (22bishopsgate.com) was to analyse daily building occupancy and usage, giving management and tenants a better understanding of how the facilities were being used. Working with its chosen integrator Total IT, the 22 Bishopsgate team started by deploying Synergis access control. This was quickly unified with video surveillance and analytics through Security Center. It then began implementing a series of IoT protocols – such as Bacnet, MQTT and SNMP – to begin ingesting data from other building systems and devices that could be visualised within Security Center.

These integrations have brought the engineering and operations functions together at a technical and management layer, ensuring any possible incident can quickly be identified, logged and responded to appropriately. They can also more easily identify meaningful patterns and trends on which to base future investment decisions.

Genetec (www.genetec.com) is a technology company that has been transforming the physical security industry for over 25 years. The company’s portfolio enables enterprises, governments and communities around the world to secure people and assets while improving operational efficiency and respecting individual privacy.

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Genetec serves its 42,500 customers via a network of accredited channel partners and consultants in more than 150 countries.