Ensuring security, peace of mind
Of course, protecting all those beautiful spaces and faces is
another priority.
To this end, the HH team recommended a remodel of the existing
education space along with the new addition, which would allow the
church to address security breaches caused by multiple entrances,
and corridors being used as flow-through areas. Access control would
allow personnel and parents in the in-house community children’s
daycare areas but limit the movement of members and guests in these
restricted areas.
All these considerations — plus the addition of a new worship venue,
along with multiple access points in and out of the facility for a large
number of attendees — made it important to choose an integrator with
commercial experience to take the church to the next level of security
integration. It would need to provide a solution that was sophisticated in
its capabilities, but also streamlined and simple to use — no small task.
Even before the building expansion, it took maintenance personnel
nearly an hour to lock all the doors using key fobs and regular keys.
“But you know how it is with a church — everyone wants a key,”
Pritchard laughs.
So, for the new facility, the objective was full facility-access control,
including the ability to set up a lock-and-unlock schedule for every door.
The chosen manufacturer was uniview tec [www.univiewtechnology.com].
What’s more, it was a known quantity, as Keith Shaver — a longtime
church member and leader of the building tech team — is one
of its executives.
“With Keith, we obviously recognized his expertise,” Pritchard says.
“We basically said, ‘You take a couple of church members and some our
staff, and you put together the technology, the security setup. Then, just
share with us where you're headed.’”
Shaver enlisted Dallas Security Systems to be the integrator, given its
experience in large facility construction.
Challenge accepted!
As Shaver explains, early involvement in the building process allowed
him and the tech team to create a strategy to select and “design in”
products which would meet current requirements, but also to plan for
future upgrades and system improvements, as well as allow for growth
in terms of the number of video cameras and possible changes in the
future use of the facility.
“As with the A/V/L setup, this approach would allow additional
capabilities as financial resources were available or as future needs were
discovered,” he explains.
Shaver and the tech team engaged directly with HH Architects, along
with CSD and Dallas Security Systems and other vendors to ensure good
communications and trouble-free system installation and integration.
The first step in getting a fully integrated, full-accesscontrol
system up and running, was ensuring the
existing security & surveillance components “played
nicely” with the new ones. As Shaver points out, the
old facility was already equipped with intrusion, video
security and access control. However, upgrades in
technology and capabilities were needed.
“For example, the previous system included lowerresolution
analog cameras and some higher-resolution
network (IP) cameras,” he explains. “But the strategy
was to replace the analog cameras and upgrade all other
network cameras to mega-pixel network cameras for
enhanced picture detail and quality.”
Additionally, a single network video recorder with
multi-channel capability was required as the integration
point for all video cameras across the campus.
For Pritchard’s part, he acknowledges he’s no expert
in this area. Even so, he really appreciates that all
video security, facility-wide, is now integrated. He, staff
members and maintenance personnel can unlock doors
using a computer, or even their cellphones — no more keys and key
fobs! And now, maintenance personnel can set a schedule for doors
to lock and unlock, automatically. Or, they can select the zone where
they want doors unlocked. And if a group needs to get in the facility
off-schedule, all it takes is a phone call to unlock that door.
“It’s just a gigantic timesaver,” he says. “And it takes away the
excuse of, ‘I left the door open,’ which is pretty nice.”
Pritchard also values the video clarity of the new systems. Already,
it has enabled him and his team to identify some trespassers on the
property. It has also come in handy in unexpected ways.
For instance, when the church got word that a front row seat
in the pull-out seating section of the new multipurpose worship
center was ejecting people, crystal-clear video playback let them
see it for themselves.
The potential liabilities were obvious. The church showed the
seating supplier the video, and a representative was there the next
day to fix the “ejection seat.”
QUICK FACTS ABOUT
FIRST BAPTIST FORNEY
Year established: 1869
Number of staff: 18
Combined weekly attendance: 3,000+
2019 budget: $4.5 million
A big ask, delivered
For the HH team, the First Baptist Forney project stands out
from others as a massive and intricate coordination of building use
types — recreation and worship — allowing for a facility to be used
all week. It’s an outreach tool not only on Sundays, but also from
Monday to Saturday.
As someone vested in First Baptist Forney’s expansion — both
as a member and an integral part of fulfilling that vision on the
tech team and integrator side — Shaver’s take is both informed and
valuable: “The end result was far more positive than what we would
have expected from a ‘siloed’ approach.”
Most important, Pritchard says the new space has accomplished
everything the church wanted it to.
“We had phenomenal momentum prior to COVID; the rocket ship
had taken off,” he says. “I think we can get back to that when the time
is right.”
8 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | JULY / AUG 2020