Door Industry Journal - Spring 2020

THE door industry journal spring 2020 Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk Secured by Design Our article (see facing pages) looks at how the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is incorporating Secured by Design (SBD) crime prevention and designing out crime measures and techniques into new and refurbished buildings. This work is the responsibility of PSNI’s Designing Out Crime Officers whose source of reference is SBD’s range of authoritative Design Guides. Their work falls into two categories: social housing – and everything else. All social housing schemes are required by the Department of Communities to meet SBD’s Gold Award for physical security and layout and landscaping. Social housing developments range from infill projects of a few homes in inner cities to major new home developments on various greenfield sites. Everything else – including private housing, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, health centres and sports and leisure facilities – requires Designing Out Crime Officers to persuade architects and developers to embrace crime prevention to improve security and community safety. A great many social housing and other projects have been completed over the years – and there is a constant churn of new developments. What’s particularly encouraging is that the benefits of SBD are increasingly attracting the attention of the design and construction industry in Northern Ireland with many more enquiries being received than before. Some builders have not only embraced SBD but also are going above and beyond our requirements. In addition, we have many Northern Ireland member companies which have invested heavily in testing and certification to ensure their products like doors, windows and locks meet our robust security standards. Looking to the future, urban regeneration in Northern Ireland has moved up the Government’s priority list. The ambition is not only to build ‘sustainable communities’ but also to help people ‘change their lives for the better’. With more than one million new homes around the UK built to SBD standards over the last 30 years, SBD has an excellent track record of helping people live more safely and securely for current and future generations. We are well placed to make a huge difference as Northern Ireland moves forward. Jon Cole, Chief Operating Officer Secured by Design A regular column brought to you by Jon Cole, Chief Operating Officer, Secured by Design, the national police crime prevention initiative, which seeks to design out crime by improving the physical security of buildings and implementing crime prevention principles into the layout and landscaping of the surrounding area. Jon Cole SBD in action Social housing could involve small developments in cities or larger estates on greenfield sites. Neatly presented with smart, secure front doors and windows, mostly with living rooms that overlook front boundary railings and residents’ parked vehicles beyond, they additionally benefit from being well illuminated by lights to the front and rear of their property and modern street lighting. It will include catering for the elderly and people with disabilities and special needs, such as complex-needs bungalows and the provision of bespoke facilities, such as wet rooms. Some of the biggest and longest-running projects have been in the health sector amounting to many hundreds of millions of pounds of building development. Key features here include secured entrances, access controls to buildings and lock-down shutters on doors and windows. Many local door and window manufacturers in Northern Ireland have become SBD member companies and have invested heavily in product testing and certification to ensure they achieve SBD’s Police Preferred Specification standard. Kenny McHugh, who was the Lead Designing Out Crime Officer for PSNI from 2005 – 2016 before he left to work for SBD where he is Membership Lead, said: “I have been privileged to visit every corner of Northern Ireland to see at first-hand how applying SBD crime prevention principles builds safer communities. It’s fantastic work and makes a difference to so many people’s lives.” Kenny’s strategic role now sees him working with PSNI, Police Scotland and An Garda Síochána. Chris Sloan, who is the Strategic Lead for Crime Prevention within PSNI, said: “As a policing service we are committed to preventing crime and reducing harm through responsive, visible, accessible and victim- focused policing. By working in partnership with our stakeholders we can contribute to the development of safer spaces within Northern Ireland. “Our continued investment in dedicated specialist DOCOs reinforces the PSNI commitment to designing out crime at a local and strategic level. The increases in architectural design requests including SBD on major, specialist and local developments are a clear indicator of the success and hard work of the prevention team.” For the full feature: visit our news pages at: https://www.securedbydesign.com/about-us/news Secured by Design Email: enquiries@police-cpi.co.uk Web: www.securedbydesign.com Video: https://youtu.be/jZ7oeAQcHmc The River Lagan, Belfast