The Passivhaus Security Challenge

“With climate change affecting every aspect of our lives, the building industry has been slow to keep up with the innovations that are designed to lower our carbon footprint” Derek says. “Building regulations are slow to catch up as well, though there has been a gradual creep to lower and lower U values. In practice though it has been left to those who take sustainability seriously to move things forward with more urgency”.

“One of the heroes in building industry revolution is the Passivhaus-Institut, a voluntary body which began in Germany. It has set up standards in sustainability and it is an educating force in ecology in the building industry. There are many challenges when new building materials replace older ones. Security is not the least of these challenges. Many highly insulated materials are lightweight that lack the rigidity and strength of traditional materials.

“NEOS Protect has built its reputation on providing strong communal entrance doors that all proudly pass the enhanced SBD standard. From day one the doors were certified by the Certisecure scheme to a minimum of STS202 BR2.

“In the early days thermal insulation was not a priority and we produced steel doors that resisted vandalism and burglary, but five years ago we modified the design to incorporate a generous thermal break and a double gasketing system.

“We approached the Passivhaus-Institut and following an in depth analysis of our system we were certified to the standard, meaning the doors have a proven U value of less than 0.8 W/m²K. We are one of only a few SBD approved companies who currently have the Passivhaus certification with the same product. We envisage a future where the Passivhaus standard is mainstream in the building industry, and we are proud to have pushed forward with this innovation to our scope.”

NEOS Protect

Based in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NEOS Protect specialise in the design, manufacture and installation of an extensive range of access controlled communal entrance doors and glazed screens for the housing, education and commercial sectors.

NEOS Protect have an extensive range of products that have been accredited by SBD, including a range of doorsets which have achieved dual certification compliance for both security and fire. Further details on NEOS Protect and their extensive range of SBD accredited products can be found here.