About the organisation Warter Priory Estate was originally a number of independently run farms but now the Priory is centrally managed and has become a world-class farming and shooting operation set in the heart of East Yorkshire amidst 12,000 acres of rolling farmland, open valleys and ancient woodland.

The huge estate sits in a ring fence and employs around 40 staff spread across the 12,000 acres. It consists of approximately nine farms each including out buildings, warehouses full of machinery, grain stores, silos, other farming buildings and offices. These working farms develop the land and produce mainly wheat, barley, oilseed rape and vining peas for Birdseye.

Warter Priory estate also contains an entire village, which includes 63 houses, and one shooting lodge, this lodge is one of the most famous of all the Yorkshire shoots. Warter Priory prides its self on its fantastic reputation for quality, both on the farm and the shoot.

The ProblemBefore implementing AIT’s access control solution Warter Priory used a traditional lock and key solution across the estate, with so many locks and keys to manage it was very difficult to keep track of where keys were and who had them. With so many doors and locks across so many locations, key management was becoming problematic and interfering with the smooth running of the site.

This old-fashioned lock and key system meant the Priory had many different keys to account for. It also made it very difficult to pass keys from one staff member to another due to the size of the estate. Added to that, if a key was lost, the lock associate with it would have to be replaced, which made the system extremely costly. The site also needed to manage the security risk associated with waiting for a locksmith to come and replace the lock and key.

Case Study Warter Priory Estate

T: 0113 273 0300 F : 0113 273 0302 E: solutions@ait.co.uk W: .ait.co.uk

AIT Ltd2 Hawthorn Park, Coal Road, Leeds LS14 1PQ, UK Company Registration Number: 4380885

Additionally, staff could not be held accountable for lost keys as Warter had no booking out system for their keys. Another problem faced by the site, was the estate manager had no accurate knowledge as to where his staff members were during the day, this made managing the team more difficult and was far from ideal if there was an emergency.

Driven by these issues Warter Priory took the decision to invest in a new access control solution that would provide greater site security, improve the management of the team and reduce the costs associated with replacing locks. They also wanted to ensure any new solution would be flexible and able to be easily scaled to suit their future business needs.

The solutionAfter initial discussion with AIT an onsite survey was carried out to establish what would be the best solution to meet Warter Priory’s stated needs.

As a result of the onsite survey the AIT recommended solution would be to install SALTO ProAccess SPACE software and the SALTO XS4 range of hardware. This would include GEO electronic cylinder locks, e-handles and a number of SALTO padlocks to replace the conventional ones that were currently used on remote out-buildings across the estate. The estate manager also required enhanced security on a number of external doors and to achieve this these doors would be fitted with dead-bolt mortice locks to provide this extra security.

As Warter Priory is a large site with limited network or power available it was recommended the solution use a combination of online and offline handles. Online handles would be fitted to key entry points and offline handles in those areas where there was no network or power. This also made the solution very cost effective as offline are a third of the cost of online handles.

The site chose to use SALTO contactless RFID bracelets, rather than ID cards, as their team members credential carrier, these would be less likely to be lost than a more traditional ID card or fob and bracelets would be more practical for staff who are often carrying goods when they need to open a door.

However, the site would need RFID fobs and ID cards so guests to the site’s shooting lodge would be able to gain access during their stay. Most of the office-based employees would also use ID cards and fobs.

Bi-directional data updates would be done via the staff’s bracelets, ID cards or fobs when presented at an online door, including an audit trail of where they had used the card, if any offline doors need new batteries or if their access rights have been changed.

Implementation and useThe solution was implemented over three phases. Phase one covered the external primary doors across the site. These doors were then used as a proof of concept to ensure the solution would deliver on the sites requirements and allow the site to gain a good understanding of the ProAccess SPACE management software ahead of the full roll out.

The proof of concept ran for approximately three months after which Warter Priory confirmed they were very happy to roll out the full solution across the site. Phase two took two weeks to complete with 35 doors installed and commissioned and centrally controlled via the ProAccess SPACE management console. This also included the estates brand new shooting lodge.

The final phase will be completed once the construction of a large new warehouse facility is finished, this new building will house all the site machinery and the grain stores will be sited there. This new warehouse will make use of the SALTO locks already in use across the site; these will be refitted as the existing buildings become redundant. This gives Warter Priory the flexible and cost effective solution they desired.

As part of phase two, Warter Priory’s alarm system was integrated into the new access control solution to give the estate manager a more robust overall security system, so making incident detection easier.

The BenefitsThe management at Warter Priory is now benefitting from real time control of the 12,000-acre site; with a complete audit trail of who has entered where and at what time and it is much easier to know where teams are at any given time. Staff safety and security has been improved if, for example, a team member fails to show up at an expected place it is very quick to back track to where they were last known to be. Should a staff member lose a bracelet, fob or ID card access rights can be blocked instantly so security across the site is now much better and the risk of any unauthorised access is gone. The need to replace locks has been removed as have all the associated and unnecessary costs.

AIT have been delighted to work with Warter Priory and show that access control can add real business benefits no matter what sector a customer is in.

T: 0113 273 0300 F : 0113 273 0302 E: solutions@ait.co.uk W: .ait.co.uk

AIT Ltd2 Hawthorn Park, Coal Road, Leeds LS14 1PQ, UK Company Registration Number: 4380885

“As part of phase two, Warter Priory’s alarm system was

integrated into the new access control solution to give the estate manager a

more robust overall security system, so

making incident detection easier.”