Case Study:
Square Gardens, Manchester
Sector: Co-Living
Products used: SMF EPIC
Completion date: June 2025
Downing is one of the UK’s leading property businesses, with a 35-year history of investing and developing projects. One of the pioneers of the purpose-built student accommodation sector it is now a leader in the co-living space. Its 830,000 sq. ft Square Gardens development is the largest co-living project in Europe, with three state-of-the-art buildings offering luxury accommodation in Manchester’s prime First Street district. Two of the three buildings are completed, with the third scheduled to open in June 2025.
Offering a combination of co-living spaces, studios, and apartments, the buildings provide outstanding facilities for the occupants, including a gym and wellness centre, a cinema room, co-working areas, outdoor terraces, and spaces. Utilities are included in the rental rates.
Premium smart access
With such leading-edge facilities, Downing, acting as both main contractor and operator (under its Downing Living subsidiary), required a smart access system that was straightforward for residents to use and easy to manage. For that, it turned to NSP Security.
Downing chose the SMF EPIC for the site’s 2,224 apartments and communal doors as it was a good match for the luxury nature of the building. The EPIC is a premium choice that integrates the lockset, power supply and mechanical override into the door for an unobtrusive and minimalist look and feel. It also meant Downing could choose from a range of handle options to ensure an aesthetic match for its high-end décor.
According to Downing’s regional operations manager Mark Parkinson, Downing selected NSP Security not only because of its high-quality solution but also because of the positive experience it had working with the company. In particular, he highlighted its excellent communication and speedy response to issues. “We had regular catchups with various head office staff from NSP Security in terms of the progress of the job to sort pinch points,” he said.
Mark also highlighted NSP Security’s willingness to adapt its solution to ensure it met all of Downing’s requirements. For example, Downing requested adding a feature to the platform so that when residents presented their fobs to the main entry door their picture would immediately appear on the front desk screen so that staff could match the person on the system to the person using the fob – and this was done in time for the site opening.
A flexible approach
Another example of NSP Security’s flexibility involved the building’s secure mailboxes. Even though these were not using NSP Security locks, it nevertheless made efforts to ensure residents could access them using their existing fobs. This also meant Downing could efficiently manage them without leaving the NSP Security platform.
Even before the building work was completed, Mark said that Downing Life appreciated having the NSP Security smart access system in place. “When a building is going through a defects-check period there is access required by tradespeople so, we’ve got an audit trail of who’s been in those areas.
It also makes the information much easier to acquire than it used to, which, when is a huge time saver when you’re dealing with thousands of locks. We’ve had systems where we’ve had to plug a tablet into the lock to download the data and we don’t have to do that now because it’s all on the system.”
Quality aftercare
Downing also noted the quality of the aftercare, as NSP Security ensured that even minor issues were promptly addressed, either by working with Downing’s on-site team or by sending in its own people.
“What sets NSP Security apart is the relationship that our site staff have with the engineers and the availability of the local field-based engineers. The team were amenable regarding our requirements and I wouldn’t have any issues recommending working with them going forward.”
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