Recognized as a Ville d'Art et d'Histoire, Nîmes is the 20th largest city in France and owes its particular identity to the monuments built there by the Romans.
With 400,000 visitors per year, the Arènes remain one of the Gard region's unmissable attractions.
In summer, the city organizes numerous concerts, shows, Ferias and other events there, attracting up to 14,000 people for some of the bullfights.
An amphitheater dating back to the end of the 1st century A.D., the facade of the Arènes is made up of two rows of 60 arcades, one on top of the other.
Originally, all the arcades at ground level were open to allow entry and exit.
Under the vaults, there are five circular galleries, 162 staircases and corridors leading to the seating areas providing access so spectators can take their seats or leave quickly.
Just like any public building, people's safety is of the utmost importance at the Arènes, as is preventing any incidents turning to tragedy.
For years, a system of electro-mechanical locks was in place, with as many keys as there were railings. Before each event, each railing was opened mechanically and locked in place electronically.
This system fell out of compliance with current safety regulations and so the managers at the Arènes naturally called upon Dény Security, supplier of the original system, to find a solution which would not only meet the safety requirements of this type of building, but also meet their expectations.
As the Arènes de Nîmes are accessed by different types of personnel and organizations (technical services, production companies, etc.), the managers were looking for a system which could simultaneously operate emergency exits and ensure that access was both simple and efficient, all the while respecting the building's architecture and not forgetting the difficulty of adaptability considering the age of the railings. Dény Security therefore installed an emergency exit management system covering 28 railings linked to an entry control system covering 9 grates.
Emergency exits
Motorized electronic locks (SLB4 - Active Security Device) for the emergency exits.
Entry control with electronic cylinder
Optimal Lock electronic cylinders with Logyca sensors for entry management with movement tracking (memory capacity of 2,000 events).
UGCIS for centralized management
Centralized management unit of type MICREL for emergency exits (UGCIS).
All the information is relayed to the security PC where any authorized person can view the state of the emergency exits at any given time. Furthermore, a general command system located on the security PC can unlock all the railings simultaneously.
A control PC situated in the stage manager's office also ensures that the locks can be visualized and inspected by sector. With 8 permanent near-field security passes, the Arènes are now able to authorize access passes on demand. In the event of loss or non-return, the stage manager simply deactivates that pass from the computer via a dedicated program.
Throughout the installation, the Arènes de Nîmes received technical support from the Dény Security "Projects" department, which installed and commissioned the system, and supported and trained the Arènes technical team.
