Austin Community College, Austin TX, is the fourth largest community college in the nation with a current enrollment of over 40,000 students and projections for continued student growth. The newly opened Round Rock Campus, one of the school’s eight full-service academic campuses in the greater Austin region, is adjacent to the existing Texas State Round Rock Higher Education Center and Seton Hospital Williamson. Phase I of the Round Rock Campus construction includes five new buildings that will accommodate up to 7,500 additional students. Ultimately the Round Rock Campus will include 10 buildings with a total of approximately 575,000 square feet, and will be home to more than 11,000 students. In addition to state-of-the art classrooms and labs, the new campus includes an outdoor amphitheater, pedestrian and bike paths and ample green space.
The Round Rock Campus is a brand new facility, which allowed the school to incorporate their mission of creating a people friendly environment in its design and construction. The access control system planned for the campus had to provide a high level of security without presenting an intimidating profile to the people it was intended to serve. The system was tasked with maintaining a safe and secure environment for the school’s students, faculty, staff and visitors while protecting the facility’s physical assets. A very tight project timeline and the necessity of installing the system during construction of the facility itself presented further challenges. Austin CC selected NAV as the integrator from the list of local and regional qualified bidders based upon experience, references and technical competence in order to design and build the access control system to meet the requirements on time and on budget.
Their substantial experience with higher education facilities and large campus infrastructure helped NAV secure the project. As the integrator, their expertise across a broad range of physical security platforms including access control provided added value to the client. NAV staff had previously worked with security management of Austin Community College and had established a reputation for value in terms of performance quality, knowledge and reliability. Their familiarity and expertise with the Software House access control system allowed them to design and build the 117-card reader system in accordance with the physical security and cultural requirements of the school as well as the technical specifications issued for the system. NAV’s expertise combined with an established relationship with Austin Community College helped to ensure completion of the project on time and on budget.
