Moving on from building design to the technologies to be deployed, “access control in residential properties used to be implemented via video door phones at the flat level but this has since expanded to multilevel access control covering the main gate, lobby and flat levels,” says. Mehernosh Pithawalla, Vice-President and Global Head, Marketing, Sales & Innovation, Godrej Security Solutions. This trend is especially visible in township projects (with about 250-900 flats), which have video door phones integrated with locks for provision of easy access.Today, “some of the most securely built and managed buildings deploy a biometric solution in conjunction with facial recognition cameras, and integrate these with the building management system,” says C N Raghavendran, Partner, CR Narayana Rao Architects. This deployment would involve feeding the system with the biometric data of authorised users, whether staff or delivery representatives of vendors, so as to trigger alerts to security personnel when the presence of unauthorised persons is detected.For example, in K Raheja Corp’s high-end residential project Vivarea, and its premium projects such as Raheja Vistas Powai and NIBM Pune, high-quality security systems such as video door phones integrated with the access control system are a standard offering. These help residents track visitors at the entrance lobby and allow only authorised guests to enter. Additionally, occupants have one-touch access to common areas through the use of IP-controlled, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Integrated smoke and gas leak detectors, panic alarms in apartments and common areas and a central monitoring station further enhance security.In K Raheja Corp’s commercial project, Mindspace Business Park in Airoli, turnstiles installed in the entrance lobbies and seamlessly integrated with elevators assign each entrant to an elevator for the smooth movement of traffic.Puravankara’s residential projects such as Purva Westend and Purva Palm Beach feature digital entrance door locks and a panic button to trigger alerts in case of an emergency, according to Srikanth Srinivasan, President - Procurement, Puravankara. “For the convenience of home owners, in future, the digital door lock will be made controllable by an app, to allow home owners to remotely see who is at their door and let in people. These and more features will be available in all upcoming Puravankara projects under its signature residential line BluNex Home—intelligent next-gen homes in collaboration with Google.”With greater awareness of the role of CCTV cameras in enabling homeowners to remotely monitor their property, some real-estate developers are moving to offer homes with preinstalled CCTV cameras, observes Pithawalla. Zicom’s most popular technology currently is artificial intelligence-driven cameras, which can detect strangers entering restricted areas and help homeowners monitor the young and elderly; for instance, they can detect if an elderly person has been sitting in one location for a long duration.Incidentally, a best practice associated with CCTV camera footage is to store the camera recording in the Cloud to preserve the evidence even in the eventuality of a disaster on site.- CHARU BAHRI