Aston Villa Football Club

The Requirements

Non-matchday staff and visitor numbers are typically around 1,000, whereas, on “game-day”, this can swell to over 5,000 people at the site.

The sports ground has large public access areas and substantial building assets. In addition, there are a number of high-profile players and management teams working from the site.

The club sought an access control vendor that could offer a wide range of product options, whilst also offering exceptional value for money without compromising on quality. Aston Villa FC turned to TDSi to supply a highly secure, easy-to-install, manage and use access control system.

The Solution

Aston Villa FC’s Maintenance Manager, Josh Tooth commented, “We have been working with TDSi for a number of years as the company understands the complexity of our access control needs and provides solutions that give us peace of mind.

Using TDSi’s access control products and software has given us a highly flexible approach to our access control; we can easily add additional access on a selected door and integrate it into the rest of the network.”

Because of the ongoing programme of upgrades and dispersed locations of access control points around both the Villa Park Stadium and the Bodymoor Heath training ground, TDSI suggested Aston Villa FC use the EXgarde Pro software solution to manage a range of different access controllers across both sites.

Having organically evolved, Aston Villa FC’s facilities use TDSi’ s EXcel2, EXcel4 (serving two and four readers respectively), and EXpert controllers which control individual doorways on the network.

The EXgarde Pro solution can be scaled up or down with ease, as operational requirements dictate. What’s more, with unlimited user-definable holidays, automatic fire door release, time-sheet reports, and full integration with intruder alarm systems, TDSi’s controllers have offered Aston Villa FC the flexibility needed for the future evolution of its access control needs.

The Result

Josh Tooth concludes, “As well as offering a range of top-quality technologies, we are over the moon with TDSi’s service. The support is top class – we have an excellent working relationship with the company and the current systems.

We are soon to roll out TDSi’s facial recognition reader as a next-generation access control system, which negates the need for authorised staff to carry security cards with them. This is especially useful at busy times and also means there is no risk of security cards being stolen and unauthorised people being able to gain access.”