Door Industry Journal - Spring 2020

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk 118 THE door industry journal spring 2020 Locks & Building Hardware UK Smart Lock Adoption is Sluggish Due to Poor Compatibility With Our Doors Compared to many other countries around the world, UK smart lock adoption is already lagging way behind. Head to South Korea and you’ll see that keys are nearly non-existent, with most locks replaced by electronic keypad solutions. In the US, newer brands such as August are selling millions of units, and more traditional brands such as Schlage have launched successful offerings. Adoption has been much slower in the UK, though. Smart locks appeared on the market as early as 2013, yet it’s only a small minority of Brits that have even interacted with one. Walk around a smart home exhibition and you’ll still see a number of consumers being amazed upon seeing a digital unlock for the first time. It would be easy to attribute this slow take-up to differing attitudes towards technology and home security. (Americans are probably more willing to experiment with smart locks when they have guns as backup!) But the different doors across various geographies should also be considered. The brands selling heavily in the US work on the rudimentary, but widely prevalent, cylindrical deadbolts, meaning a quick and easy self-install. The PAS24 requirements over here mean the majority of UK doors have either a multipoint locking mechanism, requiring a handle lift to throw the bolts, or the more traditional set up of a night-latch and a mortice deadbolt. While solutions have been created for both of these doors, there are user experience issues or physical security drawbacks that have hindered uptake. The solutions available for lift handle locks are Yale’s Conexis and Brisant’s Ultion Smart*. For Yale, the Conexis not working alongside a physical key is a sticking point for all but the largest technophiles. The Ultion Smart’s design will provide users with more assurance by incorporating a traditional 3-star cylinder and hiding all of the smart design on the inside of the door. However, it still comes with its own problems. Having to perform a handle lift before the door can be digitally locked can be a convoluted process; one you don’t want to leave to your delivery man or dog walker to accidentally get wrong.