How to choose access control for a business

Access control projects go wrong when someone chooses a system before surveying the doors. A door is a mechanical object with a frame, a closer, gaps and a fire rating, and the electronic lock has to work with all of it. Get that wrong and you inherit a door that sticks, fails to latch, or is held open with a brick.

For each door, note whether it is internal or external, single or double leaf, wooden or metal framed, fire-rated, and whether people need to exit through it freely. That list, not a product catalogue, is what determines the specification.

Fobs and cards remain the default in UK businesses because they are cheap, quick and easy to replace. Keypads suit doors where visitors need access and a code can be shared and changed. Mobile credentials, where a phone acts as the card, are increasingly common in offices with younger staff and reduce lost-fob admin.

Biometrics — fingerprint or face — are worth considering only where you genuinely need to prove who entered rather than who held a card. They add cost, GDPR considerations and user friction.

This is the part that cannot be improvised. Doors on escape routes must allow people to leave without a key or code, usually via a push bar or a break-glass unit. Maglocks must release on fire alarm activation, and that release must be tested.

A responsible installer will ask about your fire risk assessment and refuse to lock a door in a way that jeopardises escape. If an installer does not raise it, that tells you something.

Ask who will add new starters and remove leavers. If the answer is 'the installer', every staff change becomes a billable visit. Systems such as Paxton Net2 and Paxton10 let an office manager handle it from a browser, with the installer retaining a separate engineering login.

Integration with CCTV is worth having at entrances and gates, so a door event can be matched to a camera image. Integration with time and attendance or HR systems is possible but rarely as plug-and-play as it sounds; treat it as a project in its own right.

• Single door, fob access, Paxton Net2: from around £950 fitted
• Single door with video intercom: £1,400–£2,200
• Four to six doors on one system: £2,500–£5,000 depending on door hardware
• Mobile credentials or browser-managed Paxton10: typically 15–25% above Net2 equivalent
• Maglock, closer and door works per door: £250–£600 depending on the frame

Survey every door, agree the credential type, confirm fire and egress requirements, decide who administers it, then price the works door by door. That sequence produces a system that lasts; skipping to product selection produces a system that gets propped open within a month.