Secured by Design at London Build 2024

London Build 2024 is co-located with London Build Fire & Security Expo.

Visit stand Q10 to find out more about the UK Police Service’s Secured by Design (SBD) initiative where we will be showcasing how we integrate security into design and construction and collaborate for safer, more sustainable communities. 

Alfie Hosker, Technical Manager at Secured by Design, will also be joining a panel discussion on Wednesday 20th November at 11:00 am on the Fire Safety Stage, "How the Golden Thread is Improving Building Fire Safety". This session will bring together industry experts to examine the critical role of the "golden thread" in enhancing fire safety, discussing how accurate information management can contribute to safer, more resilient buildings. 

SBD celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2024, having been created in 1989 following the housing boom of the 1960s-1980s, when there was a huge and urgent demand for housing, with estates being built quickly and often cheaply without any basic security. This resulted in a significant rise in burglary and it was clear that criminals were taking easy advantage of residential layouts that failed to provide adequate natural surveillance, were highly permeable, where anonymity was absolute and escape routes plentiful. Add to this scenario the lack of effective physical security standards associated with homes at the time, it was of no surprise that by 1996 UK burglary figures peaked at 1.8 million offences a year. 

It was obvious that something needed to be done to reduce burglary and encourage the adoption of improved standards of design, layout and security and in response, the Police Service set up SBD. SBD work closely with architects, builders, developers, local authorities and registered housing associations to incorporate police crime prevention standards into developments from initial concept and design, through to construction and completion. Police forces throughout the UK have specially trained Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs) who offer police designing out crime and SBD advice free of charge. 

Designing Out Crime 

The most effective time to design out crime is during the initial design of the development, literally when the plans are still at the drawing board stage. For example, the re-orientation of a building or the removal of unrestricted access to the rear of a development can be easily achieved. It costs no more to design a development well, as opposed to it being designed poorly. In fact, there is compelling evidence that poor design impacts significantly on the sustainability of a development, and thereby requires huge funds to counter the negative impacts generated by crime. Impacts which could have easily been designed out many years before with a little more thought. 

Developers around the UK can achieve SBD awards for incorporating crime prevention measures and techniques into their developments in all kinds of building sectors, such as residential, education, health, transport, commercial, retail, sport and leisure. Indeed, SBD can be used as evidence to discharge third-party obligations under Part Q of Schedule 1 (Security) to the English Building Regulations, the Scottish Building Standard 4.13 (Security) and Welsh Building Regulations Part Q (Security – Dwellings). These awards are gained by working with the aforementioned DOCOs, who advise architects, developers and local authority planners long before construction begins – and continue to provide advice and guidance until the development is complete. 

SBD Design Guides, a valuable source of reference to architects, developers, self-builders and local authority planners are available to download for free at the SBD website.

Improved security

To date, over one million homes and commercial properties have been built to SBD standards with reductions in crime of up to 87%. A number of local authorities have even gone so far as to introduce SBD standards as a planning requirement. 

Academic and other research shows that improving standards of security in brand new and refurbished properties, helps deter and reduce crime. Reducing crime and the fear of crime has direct links to better physical and mental well-being, such as with regard to high volume crimes like domestic abuse.    

The built environment influences the behaviour of people who work, live, socialise or simply pass through. SBD seeks to create environments where the law-abiding feel safe and secure whilst at the same time causing the criminal or anti-social to feel vulnerable to detection and thereby influence behaviour in a positive way. This continues to be a key objective for SBD. 

Contact details for local Designing Out Crime Officers across the UK can be found here. 

Architects & Town Planners

Architects and Town Planners can request a professional development session on crime prevention and designing out crime from SBD. The presentation content includes relevant legislation, policy and guidance; an overview of property crime trends; an evaluation of why crime occurs and an introduction to SBD. 

SBD National Building Approval

SBD National Building Approval is a designing out crime initiative for developers and those commissioning new-build developments or major refurbishment schemes. It is a one-size-fits-all security compliance solution.

SBD NBA is open to anyone involved in the commissioning of new developments and refurbishments, whether directly (such as a building developer) or as a specifier (such as a Housing Association or Local Authority).

The process of gaining membership creates a bespoke Technical Schedule for each developer or specifier. This schedule provides a description of how SBD’s requirement for physical security will be met for any building or buildings within current or future developments.

In a nutshell, SBD do full due diligence on a member’s supply chain to ensure that their products meet stipulated security criteria and issue an award that not only shows that they take security seriously, but may also discharge their legal requirements for physical security.

There are many advantages to this approach, but chief amongst them is the ability for an SBD NBA member to use the Technical Schedule anywhere in the United Kingdom, safe in the knowledge that it will be accepted by all police forces – it guarantees that a Secured by Design award will be made.

Find out more about SBD NBA membership here.

Product based accreditation scheme

SBD has worked with businesses, the construction industry and standards authorities at home and abroad for many years, leading SBD to develop a product based police accreditation scheme 25 years ago – the Police Preferred Specification.

Products that have met the Police Preferred Specification provide reassurance to the specifier, purchaser or user that the products have been independently tested to a relevant security standard and fully certified by an independent third-party certification body recognised by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), or tested and certified by an alternative approved body such as Sold Secure or Thatcham.

The SBD focus is on the critical factors that combine to deliver a product’s performance - design, use, quality control and the ability to deter or prevent crime. Better quality means these products last longer too, making them more cost effective and leading to greater sustainability in crime prevention.

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