Future-proofing access: what building managers can learn from 101 Collins

Some solutions address an immediate problem, and then there are those that go beyond and meet a future need. Needless to say, for businesses that prioritise operational longevity and adaptability, the latter is definitively a preferable option. 

That is what happened recently at 101 Collins Street, a 57-storey skyscraper in Melbourne’s CBD, one of the country’s most premium commercial assets. 

When 101 Collins sought to create a next-generation access experience for tenants, technology integration partner Kodaa worked with HID, a global leader in trusted identity and access control solutions, to deliver a mobile-first solution.

“Rather than approaching the project as a technology upgrade alone, it was part of a broader vision to create a more connected, digitally enabled workplace,” head of ANZ for Physical Access Control Solutions at HID Steve Katanas says. 

“That reflects where the industry is heading. Modernisation isn’t about replacing everything immediately. It’s about building an access control platform that’s ready for the next decade.” 

Here, the need of the customer – 101 Collins Street – was a tenant engagement app that served as more than a means to grant access to the building and its facilities. While Kodaa developed and operated the tenant experience platform, HID provided the mobile credential infrastructure that enabled secure wallet-based access. Using HID’s mobile credentials, integrated through digital wallets in phones, the app allows tenants to tap their phone or smartwatch to access everything from building entries and elevators to smart lockers – all of this without opening the app or even unlocking their device. Kodaa led the user experience and app development, while HID delivered the secure credential infrastructure. 

Kodaa integrates HID Mobile Access credentials with Integriti, Otis elevators and Gantner lockers to deliver a unified user experience.

 “A building like 101 Collins isn’t one system; it’s a security platform, elevators, smart lockers, end-of-trip facilities, tenant administration and credential issuance, all from different vendors,” explains Kodaa founder Seth Khouri.  

“The project only worked because those systems could talk to each other, so that a single HID wallet credential carries a person from the front door to their floor to their locker, without ever pulling out a card.”

The modernisation challenge 

As Khouri says, one of the biggest misconceptions of a technology upgrade such as this is that the process is inherently disruptive, demands major upgrades as well as significant capex, and the building to be pulled apart in order for it to be integrated. “Sitting underneath that are a lot of very reasonable fears: what happens if part of the building isn’t compatible? Will people actually want to use it? Is it secure? What if someone loses their phone? Do we need everyone to download an app? Those unanswered questions are what stall decisions, not the technology itself,” says Khouri. 

“The reality is that none of them are blockers once they’re addressed properly. At 101 Collins we layered mobile credentials over the existing infrastructure, ran mobile and physical credentials side by side and made sure that we had 100 percent compatibility on day one, which meant we weren’t forcing a change that people weren’t comfortable with.”  

Integrating the access control system into a digital wallet in an iOS phone (iPhone) or Google Wallet was a move that went beyond convenience. It avoids inadvertently treating the ‘holds the credential’ as the ‘authorised individual’, when the two aren’t necessarily always the same. 

Khouri adds that device-based biometrics provide stronger assurance that the person presenting the credential is the authorised credential holder. “When it lives in a wallet on a phone secured by a Face ID or a fingerprint, the person tapping in is verifiably the person we granted access to and, for higher-security areas, we can require that biometric step, effectively enforcing multi-factor authentication at the door rather than just at a login screen.”

For building administrators and tenant managers, the system offers a massively streamlined and simplified process. Tenant managers can submit, track and update access requests for their employees through a centralised portal that works in coordination with HID Origo, with approvals handled by the building’s security team. All changes are recorded automatically, ensuring complete traceability without the usual manual workload.

Lessons from 101 Collins

For building managers considering a technology upgrade, Khouri points out that the single-biggest stumbling block is the misconception that an existing system has to be replaced altogether. 

“The assumption that modernisation means a rip-and-replace program is the single biggest thing holding this industry back and 101 Collins is the proof that doesn’t have to be the case,” Khouri says. “The existing physical access control system – for example, Inner Range’s Integriti – stayed exactly where it was. What we did was layer HID Mobile Access so credentials moved into people’s digital wallets without touching the infrastructure underneath.” 

Removing that friction during the integration phase is beneficial not only to the building owners, but also to the tenants who see it as a seamless transition, rather than a disruptive one. 

While HID and Kodaa aimed for 10 percent user adoption within 30 days after the new technology was rolled out last year, they instead achieved that milestone in just one week. By the three-month mark, 70 percent of the building population had adopted and adapted to using the mobile app. Apart from the technology upgrades of the facility, open-standard based solutions are also good from an investment standpoint. “Across 35-plus tenancies and thousands of users, that’s the difference between access administration being a constant drag on the facilities team and it being a near-invisible background function. Add the elimination of plastic card logistics and real-time reporting on who’s using what, and you have a building that’s genuinely cheaper and safer to run,” says Khouri.

Future outlook of access control

More broadly, open standards are becoming increasingly important in modern access control strategies. An open-standard based technology allows it to be adapted and scaled over the years. “Customers are increasingly looking beyond individual products and asking a much bigger question: how do we avoid locking ourselves into one technology for the next 15 years or more? That’s where open standards become critical,” Katanas explains. 

He adds that building owners want the flexibility to introduce new technologies over time without replacing the entire access control systems across several touchpoints, such as the readers on the wall, in the turnstile, elevators or even the controllers.

“Industry standards such as Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) provide a secure communication between readers and controllers while simplifying ongoing management. They also enable organisations to centrally manage devices, including remotely deploying firmware updates across hundreds or even thousands of doors without technicians having to visit each location. For large commercial portfolios, this represents significant savings in operational time and cost while ensuring security updates can be applied consistently across an entire estate,” says Katanas. 

Khouri seconds that thought and makes a further case for open standards technology. “The moment you accept a closed, proprietary system, you’ve mortgaged your building’s future flexibility to one vendor’s roadmap. Open standards are what let us integrate with what was already installed, rather than having to replace anything,” says Khouri. 

Eventually, smart solutions that go beyond addressing an immediate problem – access – and instead tie into other functions of a facility are the ones that will be picked up by building managers. “101 Collins demonstrates that access control is becoming much more than opening doors. As buildings become smarter, access events become valuable operational data. They can help optimise energy use, improve occupancy management, enhance security and support more personalised tenant experiences,” says Katanas. 

He adds that a decade from now, this project will serve as a case study for other building managers who missed the opportunity to address a solution that HID and Kodaa have addressed. “In the future, people will increasingly expect one trusted identity that securely supports access across buildings, workplaces and connected services. The industry is moving away from managing individual devices toward managing trusted identities across connected environments.”

Physical security can no longer operate as a standalone system. It needs to integrate with workplace technology, identity management, property management platforms and broader smart building initiatives.

“At 101 Collins, the mobile credential deployment created a digital foundation that enables those future possibilities,” says Katanas. “Mobile access is only one component. More importantly, the infrastructure provides scalability for future technologies and services integration that may not even exist today.” 

A solution that builds for the future and the unforeseen challenges that lie ahead – facility managers would do well to take note immediately. 

Read more: Why access control is moving beyond cards