Bangsar and Damansara Heights Condominiums: Upgrading Security in Older Towers.

What makes upgrading an older Bangsar or Damansara Heights tower different?

An older tower is upgraded around what is already in its walls, with residents living there throughout, so the question is how much of the existing cabling, risers and equipment rooms can carry the new system. For the wider picture across the city, see Security Systems for Kuala Lumpur High-Rise Buildings.

When EdgeProp looked at Bangsar condominium prices (3Q2014 data, published in 2015), three of the four priciest projects after One Menerung were completed in the 1990s, and it called them well-maintained older projects in healthy demand. Knight Frank described Damansara Heights in 2020 as a low-density neighbourhood of landed homes with limited high-rise residential schemes.

Palmyra Bangsar, Menara Bangsar and Twins Damansara Heights appear on our register of Kuala Lumpur buildings. Nothing in this guide describes any of them.

Which parts of an older security system can usually be kept?

The cabling is often worth keeping; the cards and readers are the part most likely to be replaced. New cable in an occupied building means drilling, cable routing, wall work and coordination around residents, so existing cable that still performs is disruption avoided. How the riser carries that cable is covered in ELV riser vs TEL riser vs electrical riser.

For cameras, analogue vs IP CCTV sets out when keeping coax is right.

Why are the original access cards usually the first thing to replace?

Where the original cards are 125 kHz proximity cards, they usually go first, because those can be copied cheaply. IPVM, a security industry research publication, reported in 2021 that many access systems accepting 125 kHz cards can be defeated with a card copier costing about US$30.

The reason is that most 125 kHz formats are not encrypted at all. The same copier could not copy 13.56 MHz smartcards such as HID iClass or DESFire/MIFARE.

The most straightforward step is to discontinue using HID (or any) 125 kHz cards, fobs, and readers and switch to encrypted and hashed 13.56 MHz formats.

IPVM set out the trade-off. Replacing every reader and card at once is the most secure and fastest, with the highest cost and disruption. A 13.56 MHz reader mounted beside each old one costs least, but can be slow and leaves the most exposure. The best mix of low cost and meaningful improvement, it said, is a multi-function reader that reads several card frequencies and formats. If residents’ cards are failing for other reasons, see access card not working.

In what order should an older tower upgrade?

Upgrade the layers everything else depends on first, and replace cabling only once it is proved unable to cope. In our reading as a security contractor, a sensible sequence runs from the head end through the readers, cards and cameras to the intercom:

1. The head end: recorders and controllers, sized with spare room. Singapore’s police standard for building CCTV asks for at least 20% spare capacity so the system can be expanded later.
2. The readers: multi-format readers first, so old and new cards both open the doors.
3. The cards: re-issued block by block, then the old format switched off.
4. The cameras: HD-over-coax on the existing cable where the runs allow, IP cameras where they do not.
5. The intercom: reused wiring only once tested, because new cable in an occupied tower costs the most disruption.

Whether each layer is worth repairing at all is a separate question, covered in repair or replace an ageing security system.

Which fund pays for a security upgrade in an older tower?

An upgrade is normally a sinking fund matter, and day-to-day repair a maintenance account matter. Where a tower is run by a management corporation (MC) rather than a JMB, section 59(1)(a) of the Strata Management Act 2013 makes its first duty to keep the common property in a state of good and serviceable repair.

Sections 60(2) and 50(3)(a) send day-to-day upkeep to the maintenance account. Section 61(2) limits the sinking fund to the purposes in section 51(2), which include the renewal or replacement of fixtures and fittings in the common property (51(2)(c)) and the upgrading and refurbishment of the common property (51(2)(d)). How to put that to owners is set out in sinking fund or maintenance fee.

What should the committee settle before asking for quotations?

Before asking for quotations, the committee should know what the building has, which layers it wants to keep, and how it will compare the answers, or each quotation will assume something different. Settled first, those three points give every contractor the same brief.

• What exists: card type, camera cable type, intercom wiring, recorder age.
• What stays: written into the scope of works layer by layer, as in scope of works for a condominium CCTV tender.
• How to compare: line by line, using how to compare CCTV quotations.

If the original installer is no longer involved, that is not a barrier. Occhio Tec, established 2012, designs, installs and maintains CCTV, access control, video intercom, structured networking and perimeter intrusion, and handles taking over a security system another contractor installed. See also Mont Kiara, KLCC and mixed-use towers. To find out what your tower can keep, request a site survey.