Industry News
SBD in action
The DOCOs in Northern Ireland have
around 150 developments on-going at
any particular time at various stages from
concept to completion. Many will be in
Belfast or Northern Ireland’s second city
Londonderry/Derry whilst others are in
other cities and towns and rural areas.
Developments of social housing could
involve a short row of houses or a small
estate of mixed houses and apartments
creating two or three new streets on
infill sites between established homes or
where old homes have been demolished
to make way for new ones. 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. Some homes built on sites in
potential policing problem areas may
have especially heavy and thick glass
fronted windows.
At the other end of the social housing
scale are large phased developments,
built over several years on greenfield
sites for a number of different housing
associations – creating brand new
and emerging communities. Some
developments run into thousands of
homes.
Other DOCO work also involves
building in security to hospitals and
schools as well as places of work and
relaxation like sports and leisure centres.
Some are completely new developments,
others involve new buildings on existing
sites and refurbishing existing buildings.
Some of the DOCOs largest 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.
Other projects have included
improving street security, such as the
strategic use of bollards, improving park
security by lowering perimeter fencing
to provide greater visibility and a less
fortified approach to a public space, and
enhancing the security of listed buildings
with the use of internal panels of glass to
achieve the added security provided by
double-glazing.
Pete Connolly, who is a training
consultant with SBD, said: “Many of
these developments show SBD at its
best. It’s about delivering thoughtful, safe
designed homes for people to live in for
generations to come. However, they are
unlikely to ever be aware that the police
had been involved in the development of
their homes and in street design to make
their local community safer.”
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: “Not only does SBD help
create secure surroundings, but also
we help achieve secure homes and
buildings with robust products like doors
and windows that meet SBD’s Police
Preferred Specification. Many of our local
door and window manufacturers have
become SBD member companies and
have invested heavily in product testing
and certification to ensure they meet our
security standards.
“There were other benefits for housing
associations too with reduced repair and
maintenance costs because windows
and doors had been tested and certified
to ensure they were quality products.
It’s a win, win for us all, he told me, with
residents safer in their homes and in
the communities that they live in – a
testament to what working in partnership
with SBD can achieve.”
Chris Sloan, of 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 Designing Out
Crime Officers 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.”
www.securedbydesign.com
MAR/APR 2020
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