The business of operating doors, barriers, gates, windows, valves, cupboards, electronic devices and engines is critical in allowing the Red Road block to proceed effectively.

In this section we argue that access is not a programme that is imposed on a building, but an order that is organised in situ. Access operates when materials, technologies and activities are assembled in such ways that people, objects and services are enabled to enter or leave a building. We begin detaching ourselves from the understanding of a building that is separated into those who access the building and the technology that enables or disallows access, and to appreciate access as a course of action.

The access system of Red Road operates in collaboration with, and with the assistance of, the concierge service. Whilst the clearing process proceeded, some tenants continued living in the building. The residential routine of the building had to be maintained. Although the concierge service operated access under changing circumstances, it continued investing in the organisation of access, in opening and closing the high-rise properly and competently.

Access for concierges is an organisational activity through which a series of components have to be brought together in the right way: instructions, regulations, technological specifications, artefacts (doors, locks, keys), mechanisms (door-closers, hinges, electronic devices), and materials (glass, concrete, steel). In many cases, keys – in whatever form – are pivotal to access