J.Becher & Associates / Mino-Bimaadiziwin Apartments

The Mino-Bimaadiziwin project was not just an apartment complex with 110 residential units, it also was designed to house the RLBC Red Lake Nation Embassy and their Wellness Center. These are three distinct entities that each needed access control that could function separately, but also had to be able to be managed as a whole, said Chris Kilpatrick, Commercial & Multifamily Limited Energy Manager for J. Becher & Assoc. Another challenge was that the original building specifications called for 66 hard- wired card readers, but that was reduced to half due to budget constraints. Kilpatrick said because J. Becher had worked with SALTO before, he knew they did not have to reduce the number of card readers and sacrifice coverage. With SALTO, they could actually deliver more access control points using a combination of online and offline readers using SALTO Virtual Network (SVN) data-on-card technology. 

The solution Kilpatrick and team provided for the Mino-Bimaadiziwin property provides residents, employees, and visitors with secure access control that’s easy to manage. Because J. Becher & Assoc. included SALTO SVN access points, they were able to provide expansive reliable access control despite budget constraints. SALTO’s innovative SVN allows stand-alone locks to read, receive, and write information via an encrypted and secure data-on-card system that utilizes the capabilities of RFID read/write technology. With SVN, all access data is stored on and distributed by its operating smartcard (or other RFID credential). When presenting a smartcard to an offline stand-alone door, not only does this control access rights to that door but, thanks to two-way communication, the door also writes data like banned user information or battery status back to the smartcard. The smartcard then transmits this information back to the server via online wall readers that are able to update and receive information from the cards anytime and anywhere in the building. 

The J. Becher & Assoc. team installed a variety of SALTO products throughout the Mino-Bimaadiziwin property providing coverage for entrances and exits, laundry rooms, stairwells, overhead garages, employee vehicles, and outdoor gates. There are not currently readers on every apartment door, but property management has been steadily adding more electronic lock coverage. In fact, the ability to easily expand access control after the property has been built is one of the reasons Kilpatrick chooses SALTO products.

“As an electrical contractor that builds new buildings, we pull wires during construction. It’s impossible to get wires to these spots after the building is complete. But with SALTO electronic locks, you can simply replace a lock at the door and easily extend access control within a project long after construction is complete. Oftentimes, due to budget constraints, a property owner won’t have the money to outfit all doors with electronic locks or they want to wait and add some more electronic locks to doors a year or two down the line. SALTO makes this very easy to do.”

Property managers update access via SALTO ProAccess SPACE management software. Kilpatrick said they have incorporated the use of the lockdown function and have integrated the solution with alarms. Each desk has an alarm that will disable all schedules and will lock down doors if there is an emergency. The system at Mino-Bimaadiziwin is set up to provide mobile access for residents and employees which Kilpatrick expects will be implemented in the future.