COVID-19 Outbreak Boosting PropTech: First Contactless Office Building In Estonia

The doors and elevators of the office building next to Tallinn’s Old City harbour are accessed via smartphone, and the building does not require physical security staff. The system uses biometric verification, accessed through a smartphone. The transformation was done by Estonian tech startup Ninja Solutions, who developed the biometrically controlled contactless system in cooperation with USS Security.

Madis Laas, CEO of Ninja Solutions, said that the integration of the system into the office building was initially planned for later this spring, but the COVID-19 pandemic made them fast forward. "The transition of an office building into contactless mode can be done in 10 days, provided that the relevant hardware is already integrated, and the customer is cooperative. The circumstances supported the situation well this time. From now on there's no need to touch the door handles or buttons in the elevators in the building and all entrances to the building can be controlled via smartphone," he said.

Fyodor Poljakov, a spokesman for the commercial building management company Direct Invest, told that the real estate operators can do more to contribute to the social distancing currently necessary. "We do not know how long this pandemic will last, but it is unlikely to end in weeks. There are hundreds of people working in our building, and although they mostly work from home, there is still a need for visits to the offices," he said.