Four out of five homeless people in the area have 3 or more health problems in addition to being homeless. Many of these include drug or alcohol dependencies and young people, three quarters of whom are single, form the largest group of homeless individuals needing help.

Prior to the refurbishment of the Inverclyde Centre the accommodation contained within consisted of shared flats for homeless individuals. However when people were temporarily accommodated in these flats, the lack of privacy for individuals often inevitably led to management difficulties and disputes between clients.

To combat this problem, the Inverclyde Centre was extensively refurbished by the Council and equipped with small, self-contained controlled access flats. Here individuals have their own safe haven and space to live, without having to share facilities, while they work toward getting their lives back on track.

The recently completed refurbishment exercise as part of an on-going improvement program, has included improving the access control arrangements on the first floor of the building to improve the physical accessibility of the homelessness service and ensure staff have the latest security tools to manage egress to and within the centre.

After listening carefully to the Council's requirements, Gemini Access Ltd proposed and subsequently supplied the SALTO XS4 electronic locking system for doors in the centre. This consists of 2 stainless steel handle sets for corridor doors and 12 stainless steel handle sets for the bedroom doors, allowing staff to police who has access to what areas on the floor and when. The installation was carried out by the main contractor in conjunction with WLE Electrical services, and commissioned by local SALTO reseller Gemini Access Ltd. Smart, secure and innovative, the XS4 system supports up to 64,000 users and is designed for use in stand-alone operations. It needs no hard wiring and provides a totally wire free networked electronic locking solution with a huge range of features. It can be easily added to almost any existing lock and door, turning them into fully featured access control doors without compromising comfort, convenience, security or control.