4 | APRIL 2020
News
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
A GLIMPSE BEHIND
THE (CRIME) SCENES
Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs) from three police
forces have been given a glimpse behind the scenes
during a visit to ASSA ABLOY’s largest manufacturing
site in the UK at Willenhall, West Midlands.
The DOCOs from police
forces in Cheshire, West Mercia
and West Midlands were given a
guided tour around the factory to
see and learn how a wide range
of locks, cylinders and keys are
made.
They also watched a demon-
stration of how a door is put
through its paces as part of the
PAS 24 standard using tools rang-
ing from a screwdriver to a hefty
ram – similar to those used by
police officers carrying out raids
on domestic properties.
The visit was organised by
Secured by Design (SBD), a
police organisation which works
alongside police forces around
the UK, to ‘build in’ security
measures and techniques into
new and refurbished buildings in
a wide range of sectors including
residential, education, health,
transportation, commercial and
sport and leisure.
More than one million homes
have been built to SBD’s crime
prevention standards over the last
20 years with reductions in crime
of up to 87% in new homes.
DOCOs, who are mostly based
in police stations, work with
designers, architects, developers
and local planning authorities
to incorporate crime prevention
measures from the initial concept
We all had an amazing day at
‘ ASSA
ABLOY, learning about
what they do, seeing their new
products and enjoying a factory
tour ... It’s great to see at first-hand
how everything comes together
to make the final products
’
and planning stages through to
final construction.
ASSA ABLOY specialises in
door opening solutions. It oper-
ates in more than 70 countries
with over 48,000 employees.
Customers come from the institu-
tional, commercial and residential
marketplaces.
The site visit focused on two of
ASSA ABLOY’s key brands Yale
and Mul-T-Lock.
The visit included a demonstra-
tion in the factory’s dedicated res-
idential showroom of Yale’s range
of mobile phone app controlled
smart, interconnected security
products, including door locks,
alarms and CCTV cameras.
There was also a presentation
from Suresh Peri, Commercial
& Technical Manager, of Mul-T-
Lock, who explained their inno-
vative eCLIQ technology, which
allows both the granting and
removing of access permissions
remotely – an advanced system,
which won Product of the Year at
the National Locksmith Awards in
December 2019.
Visiting the ASSA ABLOY
Portobello site at School Street,
Willenhall, West Midlands were
Alison Gabbott, Mark Cotton and
Colin Marples from Cheshire;
Peter Aston and Jacqueline God-
frey-Hunt from West Mercia; and
Adrian Bartlett from West Mid-
lands. Also attending was Richard
Waterhouse from Bromsgrove
and Redditch Council.
Hazel Goss, SBD Development
Officer, (pictured centre front
left) who arranged the visit, said:
“We all had an amazing day at
ASSA ABLOY, learning about
what they do, seeing their new
products and enjoying a factory
tour. Their factory and opera-
tions are on such a huge and
impressive scale. It’s great to
see at first-hand how everything
comes together to make the final
products.
“On behalf of the Designing
Out Crime Officers, I want to say
a big thank you to the company
for their time and hospitality. I
am looking forward to arranging
another visit for those Designing
Out Crime Officers who unfortu-
nately were unable to come on
this occasion.”
ASSA ABLOY’s Martin Ward,
Mechanical Senior Product
Manager-Yale UK, said: “Yale are
committed to developing prod-
ucts that keep our customers,
and their properties, safe. That’s
why we’re proud to work closely
with the experts from Secured
by Design to design out crime.
We welcomed the opportunity to
show them the measures we have
in place and the exciting plans
we have for the future.
“We’d like to thank Secured
by Design for taking the time to
visit our site at Portobello and for
their continued efforts to keep
our homes safe with stringent se-
curity measures. We strive to con-
tinue to design and manufacture
products that meet these high
standards and carry the Secured
by Design accreditation.”
www.securedbydesign.com