Paxton’s Vandal Resistant Metal Keypad Hangs Tough at The Gym

27 May 2014

The Gym is a rapidly developing chain of venues that offers their customers flexible and accessible gym membership. With 11 sites in major cities across the UK, including Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, The Gym has just opened the doors to their new Brighton site.

Located just adjacent to the Palace Pier, The Gym at Brighton boasts enviable sea views from the running machines, ideal for a relaxing work out.

The Gym venues are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week with staff on shift 8am-8pm Monday-Friday and 10am-5pm at the weekends. The central location makes the new site ideal for busy Brighton inhabitants who want gym membership that fits in with their work schedules and fast-paced lifestyles. The service provided is a modern health club for people on the move. All day, every day gym members can access the premises using an eight digit PIN code they receive when they join The Gym online. This means that customers can use the venues at all hours of the day and night, without the need for staff having to be present.

Whilst making sure they offer flexibility and accessibility, security and the safety of their staff and members is vital to The Gym. John Treharne, the company’s CEO said: “It is vital to ensure the environment is safe and our customers are protected.”

With up to 1,100 people accessing The Gym’s busiest sites every day, it is of paramount importance that their access control system is robust and reliable. Tony Anderson-Dixon, of Vistec Systems Ltd, based in Crawley, West Sussex, specified the Net2 system from Paxton to secure all of The Gym’s UK sites. The look of the system was also a consideration; Tony recommended the heavy duty Vandal resistant metal keypad to match The Gym’s smart, modern appearance.

Tony said: “The reliability and the aesthetics of the Net2 system were key; the access control system had to be efficient whilst looking really sharp and clean. Reliability was the main concern for The Gym, if the system was unreliable then there would have been no point whatsoever, it wouldn’t have served their needs effectively.”

All of The Gym’s 11 sites are fitted with a minimum of 10 Net2 plus door control units, with 10 Easyprox compact keypads on low-security internal doors. Vandal resistant metal keypads are fitted on the main doors for secure access and egress, to and from the building.

The Gym has a simple, yet sophisticated set-up to ensure the safety and security of their clients. Using the software development kit (SDK), Net2 has been developed to integrate with The Gym’s monitoring system, linking the payment and joining process directly to the access control. Net2 also integrates with The Gym’s Dedicated Micros CCTV system, ensuring that any access event can be viewed instantly from Net2, with staff only having to monitor one piece of software.

This is all managed by The Gym staff at a central control station in Manchester. Should an unauthorised event or emergency occur, staff in Manchester will either raise the alarm or manage the issue remotely.

Net2 meets all The Gym’s current requirements and the staff say they have found the system really easy to use. Kerry Custer, The Gym’s Managing Director, received free bespoke training on the Net2 software at Paxton House in Brighton. She now trains other staff members to use the system.

Kerry said: “The flexibility of Net2 means we can deliver what we need to our customers. We also use Paxton’s software development kit (SDK) to help us integrate with our monitoring system and make changes to Net2, as and when the site develops. The SDK works really well for us, we go to Paxton whenever we want to make changes to the software. It’s flexible and reliable – that’s what we really like.”

The Gym has plans for a quick expansion. John tells us that by the end of 2013 they hope to have ‘at least 50 venues across the UK in total’, which is very exciting.

John said: “The Gym concept is totally unique in the UK. The process we have developed is being enhanced all the time and Paxton is a part of that process.”

With Vistec’s help, The Gym is looking to develop by integrating the Net2 access control system with lifts and offer access for disabled members at other venues.

Tony explained: “It’s so easy to retro-fit Net2 to offer these solutions at a later date. We’re always looking at ways to improve the system. Paxton is off the shelf and readily available. We don’t specify any other access control system now.”