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The King’s School is a co-educational independent school within the Precincts of Canterbury Cathedral, with over 820 students aged 3-18 across the Senior and Junior schools.

The vast estate is set over an entire city, with an incredibly diverse mix of historic buildings dating back as early as 597AD, through to state-of-the-art developments built within the last two years.

Amenities that include day and boarding houses, staff accommodation, recreational centres and sports centres, and a newly built science hub, international college, theatre and performing arts centre, are dispersed across a vast area; many within the public cathedral grounds, and others isolated further afield. At the time of the review, security was dependent upon disparate analogue CCTV systems and a range of hardware and software from multiple suppliers.

Sunstone designed and installed a new Internet Protocol (IP) surveillance system platform providing an opportunity to bring the school’s old surveillance system up to date by migrating different buildings in planned phases, while connecting new projects to a central system immediately. Wireless point-to-point links were installed where direct network connection is not possible between buildings – a significant issue in such a large site giving the central security office the opportunity to see different camera viewing options for each site. An innovative access control system is being implemented over the school’s sites to set the basis for facilities and building management. 

Being a World Heritage Site, it was also essential to consider how to implement new technologies in a sympathetic way to complement both historical and brand-new buildings. Sunstone worked closely with The King’s Schools construction and electrical contractors to collaborate on the best ways to achieve this. To date 14 new projects have been delivered with CCTV, access control and intruder systems. All connected to the new central platform. 

The collaborative approach between Sunstone and King’s School Security teams and contractors created a true partnership to be able to deliver shared goals ensuring the best outcomes for the School. This has resulted in the security team having a system that is easy to use, supported by engineers who understand the school and its restrictions with the ability to continually flex the security system as new projects come online.