Securevision installed the original CCTV and card access when Catholic Centre opened in 2013. Nine years later, we returned to replace the analogue camera system with 58 IP cameras - including 12 super-wide 180-degree units - and installed PoE switches on every floor so the building can expand coverage without infrastructure projects in future.
The Catholic Centre at 55 Waterloo Street is an eight-storey building in the heart of Singapore's civic district - home to the Catholic Archdiocese's administrative and social service organisations, including CANA, the Catholic Theological Institute of Singapore, Caritas Singapore, Catholic Welfare Services, the Catholic Foundation, and others. Securevision installed the building's original CCTV and card access system in September 2013 when the building first opened. By 2022, the original analogue camera system had reached the end of its useful life and was due for replacement. The Archdiocese returned to Securevision for the upgrade - a 58-camera IP system replacing the full analogue installation, with 12 super-wide 180-degree cameras for wide-area coverage and PoE switches installed on every floor for future expansion.
| Client | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore |
|---|---|
| Location | 55 Waterloo Street, Singapore 187954 |
| Sector | Institution - Civic / Religious & Archdiocese Administration |
| Original Installation | September 2013 - analogue CCTV and card access (by Securevision) |
| Upgrade Completed | August 2022 |
| Scope | Full analogue-to-IP CCTV migration - 58 cameras, 2 × 32-channel NVRs, PoE switches per floor |
When Securevision installed the original system at Catholic Centre in 2013, IP cameras were not yet the standard specification for a building of this kind. The analogue system was appropriate for the time and served the building well through its first decade. By 2022, the picture had changed on both sides of the equation: analogue cameras had become significantly harder to service and support, and IP cameras had advanced to a point where they offered meaningfully better image quality, remote access capability, and integration options.
The replacement project came with a specific challenge that the original installation did not face. Catholic Centre is a multi-tenant building housing several distinct organisations across eight floors. The floor plate is generous in places - wide corridors, open reception areas, multi-purpose halls - where a standard fixed camera at the end of a corridor would require multiple units to cover the full width without blind spots. Multiply that across eight floors of an active civic building and the camera count starts to climb.
The second challenge was about longevity. The original analogue infrastructure had served for nine years before reaching end-of-life. The 2022 upgrade needed to be designed not just for current needs but with enough infrastructure flexibility that the next cycle of expansion or change would not require a full infrastructure project - just the addition of cameras to an already-capable network.
| Facility Function | Before (2013 Analogue System) | After (2022 IP Upgrade) |
|---|---|---|
| Camera Technology | Analogue cameras - standard definition, limited remote access | IP cameras - higher resolution, network-accessible, remotely viewable |
| Wide-Area Coverage | Standard fixed cameras - multiple units required for wide corridors and open areas | 12 × 180-degree super-wide cameras covering wide corridors and open areas in a single field of view |
| Recording Infrastructure | Legacy DVR recording - analogue signal, fixed capacity | 2 × 32-channel NVRs - digital IP recording with 64 total channels for 58 cameras and expansion headroom |
| Network Infrastructure | No floor-level network switching - centralised cabling runs | PoE switch on every floor - cameras powered and connected at floor level, new cameras can be added per-floor without a cabling project |
| Serviceability | Analogue components increasingly difficult to source and support | Current IP platform - fully supported, firmware-maintained, with a serviceability horizon well beyond the 2022 installation date |
Two decisions in this project stand out as deliberate choices rather than defaults. Both were driven by the specific characteristics of a multi-tenant multi-floor civic building.
Super-wide 180-degree cameras were specified for 12 of the 58 camera positions - specifically the wide corridors, reception areas, and open common spaces where a standard fixed camera cannot cover the full width in a single field of view. A 180-degree camera at the end of a wide corridor sees the full width in one shot. The alternative is two or three standard cameras at angles - more hardware, more cabling, more recording channels, and still potentially a blind spot at the joins. For Catholic Centre's floor plan, the super-wide units simplified the camera schedule in the most coverage-demanding areas while reducing the total camera count needed.
PoE switches on every floor were a deliberate investment in longevity. Rather than running all camera cabling back to a central switch room, each floor has its own PoE switch. Any future camera addition on that floor connects to the floor switch - no new cabling to the server room, no capacity planning project, no disruption to other floors. For a multi-tenant building where individual tenants may add or relocate over the years, this gives the building management the flexibility to expand coverage floor by floor without treating each addition as an infrastructure project.
Replacing an existing camera system in a building that is in full daily use - with multiple organisations operating across eight floors - requires a replacement sequence that maintains coverage throughout. Pulling all the analogue cameras and running IP cabling in one pass would leave the building without coverage for days. Instead, the installation was phased floor by floor, with new cameras going live before the analogue units were decommissioned on each level.
Each floor was upgraded independently - new IP cameras installed and verified before analogue units were removed. The building maintained continuous coverage throughout the installation period.
A PoE switch was installed in the riser or equipment space on each floor during the same works programme, consolidating the camera network at floor level and eliminating the need for cabling runs to a central switch room for any future additions.
Because we had installed the original system, we understood the building's coverage requirements from direct experience. We revisited every camera position to assess whether a standard or super-wide unit was appropriate - resulting in 12 positions upgraded to 180-degree cameras for wide-area coverage.
Both 32-channel NVRs were commissioned on completion of the full camera installation, with all 58 cameras verified on live feed and continuous recording confirmed before handover.
A full analogue-to-IP migration with 58 cameras - 12 of them super-wide 180-degree units for wide corridors and open areas - recorded on two 32-channel NVRs, with PoE switches on every floor for straightforward future expansion.
46 standard IP cameras for enclosed areas, corridors, and access points across the eight floors. 12 super-wide 180-degree cameras for wide corridors, reception areas, and open common spaces - each covering in a single field of view what would otherwise require two or three standard cameras. Full building coverage from ground floor to roof level.
Surveillance & Detection →Two Hikvision 32-channel NVRs providing 64 total input channels for the 58-camera system. Six channels spare for expansion without a recording infrastructure change. Continuous recording across all cameras with digital IP storage - replacing the analogue DVR platform and the resolution limitations that came with it.
Platform & Management →PoE switches installed in the riser space on every occupied floor - powering cameras and connecting them to the building network at floor level. Any future camera addition connects to the floor switch. No cabling to the central switch room, no capacity planning project, no disruption to other floors. The infrastructure is ready for the next expansion cycle before it arrives.
Platform & Management →58 IP cameras across two 32-channel NVRs, with PoE switches installed on every floor - replacing the full analogue CCTV system installed in 2013.
Standard IP Cameras: 46 × Hikvision IP cameras across enclosed corridors, offices, stairwells, and access points.
Super-Wide Cameras: 12 × Hikvision 180-degree IP cameras at wide corridors and open common areas.
Recording: 2 × Hikvision 32-Channel NVRs.
PoE Switches: One PoE switch per occupied floor, installed in the floor riser space.
The 12 super-wide 180-degree cameras cover Catholic Centre's wide corridors and open areas in a single field of view each - reducing the total camera count needed while eliminating the coverage gaps that multi-camera angled arrangements can leave at the joins.
PoE switches on every floor mean any future camera - for a new tenant fit-out, a coverage extension, or a new area - connects to the floor switch and is done. No cabling to the server room, no capacity planning, no disruption to other floors.
Because Securevision installed the original system in 2013, the 2022 upgrade brief came with direct knowledge of the building's coverage requirements, cabling routes, and the lessons from the first installation cycle - advantages that a new contractor starting from scratch would not have.
When you install a system, you learn things that no site survey captures beforehand - where the light falls differently than expected, which corridors are wider than the drawings show, which camera angles create blind spots that only become obvious once the building is in use. Nine years of that knowledge informed every camera position decision in the 2022 upgrade. The 180-degree camera choices, the floor switch locations, the spare channel count on the NVRs - each one was shaped by understanding what the original installation taught us about this specific building. That is the compound value of a long client relationship: the second project is always better specified than the first.
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