The brand new Nurse Education Building at the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), has installed a smart proximity access control system from SALTO to become the first ‘totally keyless’ building on campus.

Recently named Best Sustainability Project at the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) annual Architecture Awards, the Nurse Education Building contains lecture theatres, seminar rooms, nurse practice rooms and staff rooms arranged around a central atrium.

Located at the city end of the main Cork Road campus, the building also incorporates a number of features aimed at ensuring its sustainability and it was designed to consume only 50% of the energy used by a similar building constructed to good practice standards. It is also twice as air-tight as current building regulations require, meaning that it retains heat more effectively.


As part of a rolling programme to upgrade security and reduce maintenance costs across campus the new Nurse Education Building is the first to benefit from a modern MIFARE controlled smart proximity based access control system. The installation has been carried out by approved local SALTO business partner; DoorWare Ltd.

Kieran Gorey of DoorWare says: “Waterford Institute of Technology is one of the largest institutes of technology in Ireland, with over 10,000 students and 1000 staff. The campus is continuing to expand and the Nurse Education building is the latest addition to its facilities.

“We’ve fitted one hundred doors with SALTO’s Comfort range locks in a brushed steel finish. These are specifically designed for use with internal and external doors, and the locks are approved to withstand fire resistance for 1 hour and are simple and quick to install. Power is supplied via 3 AAA batteries, good for up to 45,000 openings, and each lock can support up to 64,000 users. The locks also feature anti-vandal protection to safeguard their electronics, which are housed in the inner backplate, on the inside of the door.

In addition to this, an online reader unit using SALTO Virtual Network (SVN) software is fitted to the building’s main entrance door. This allows security staff at WIT to read, receive and write information from/to the smart student ID cards that are used to access the building and eliminates the need to replace locks if security is breached due to the loss or theft of an ID card.”

(JM/SP)