Questions we actually get · Business and large sites
How do we secure a business building with several tenants and shared entrances?
With shared systems for the building and rights per tenant. The intercom at the entrance calls the right tenant, who lets in their own visitors. Access is set per door and per time slot. The building manager reviews footage of the shared areas. When a tenant leaves, you switch off their rights in one go.
We get this question a lot
How a customer put it
Our building has several tenants, a shared entrance, a car park and shared plant rooms. Some of the businesses keep their own hours and have visitors outside office hours. We want central facilities for the whole building, with clear boundaries between what each tenant is allowed to do.
Could you draw up a plan for cameras, video intercom and access control? We want to know who can let visitors in, which doors each tenant can use and who is authorised to look back through the footage. It also has to stay manageable when a tenant moves out, a floor is split up or a new occupant wants something different.
A composite example drawn from several enquiries, not a message from one customer.
A business building with several tenants, a shared entrance, parking and plant rooms. Some tenants work late and have visitors after hours. The owner wants shared systems with clear boundaries between tenants.
The building manager wants to stop every tenant putting up their own cameras, with nobody agreeing anything about footage, network or access.
This is a composite example, put together from several enquiries. It isn't a message from one customer.
The most important thing in a building with tenants is that nobody can get into anyone else’s space. Sounds obvious. But it has to be set up properly in each system separately.
First, a list of doors
I start with a list. Which doors belong to everyone: the entrance, the bike shed, the car park. Which belong to one tenant: the door to their unit or their floor. And which are for management only: the plant rooms and the meter cupboard.
Intercom and access per tenant
The intercom at the entrance gets a button or a list per tenant. A visitor rings, the tenant sees them on a screen or in the app and lets them in. Whether a tenant can also open their own door, and at what times, depends on the brand and the situation. I won’t promise that until we’ve seen the doors. We go through it together in the advice call, door by door.
Who reviews which footage
Cameras in shared areas belong to the building. My advice is that the building manager reviews them and hands over a clip when a tenant asks for one. If a tenant wants their own cameras in their unit, that’s a separate system with its own login. We supply the technology; the rules about footage are the owner’s to set.
When tenants come and go
The moment a tenant leaves or a floor gets split in two, you adjust the groups. If the basics are right, nothing needs recabling for that.
Brands
Cameras from Dahua or UniFi, access with Paxton or UniFi Access, and intercoms from 2N, Akuvox or UniFi. Worth knowing: our cameras always run on a network cable. Is the owner or the facilities manager based abroad? Then we do all of this in English, from the first list of doors to the handover.
Agree with the tenants beforehand who manages the footage of the shared areas and how a tenant asks for a clip. Then nobody has to work that out after an incident.
Three more questions we get about this
Can every tenant have their own cameras?
Yes, as a separate system with its own login. The cameras in the shared areas belong to the building, and the building manager is the one who reviews them.
What happens when a tenant leaves?
You switch off their rights in one go and adjust the groups. If the basics are right, nothing needs recabling.
How do we start?
With a no-obligation advice call. Bring a floor plan of the building and a list of the doors that are shared.
More questions about business and large sites
All questions about business and large sitesBack to this question in the overview
A building with several tenants?
Book a no-obligation advice call and bring a floor plan. We'll make the list of doors with you and settle what's shared and what belongs to each tenant.
No obligation. Afterwards you'll get a proposal that sets out how we'd go about it.