Security Portals: Understanding the importance of Secured by Design

What makes some commercial buildings safer than others? Whether your organisation has been the victim of someone tailgating their way onto your premises or a forced entry by a burglar, there’s never been a better time to review your physical access control barriers. Especially when police are warning businesses to be more security savvy following a spike in office break-ins, which have pushed the year-on-year burglary figures for the Square Mile in London up by 110%. A spokesperson from the Police pointed out that the main methods of entry used by criminals are: targeting insecure or weak entry points, forcing open magnetic lock doors and tailgating (when intruders follow staff into the building or secure areas).

With this in mind, how do you make the right choice when it comes to choosing a physical entry barrier such as a Security Portal in order to ensure you don’t become a victim of crime? The police try to help by advising that magnetic doors should only be used as an access control measure when the office is occupied, but that additional security measures are needed out of hours. They encourage staff to challenge anyone trying to gain access to the building who they do not recognise, although that is far from ideal when they may be alone or out of hours. A better way would be to create a physical entrance barrier that stops intruders getting access inside the building.

A good starting point when looking to do this is Secured by Design (SBD), a national police crime prevention initiative that works with all UK police forces to design out crime. Secured by Design achieves this through the use of high quality, innovative products that have undergone rigorous testing.

We have recently become the first entrance control company in the UK to be accredited by Secured by Design (SBD) for our C190 S1-S3, E1G and FPJ140 2SX Security Portals. In order to achieve Secured by Design status, the portals had to adhere to rigorous test standards required by the police. Gaining this important accreditation means that Meesons is now a Police accredited company for the supply of our C190 S1-S3, E1G and FPJ140 2SX Security Portals. To become a member of Secured by Design, products like our C190 Security Portal, must be both tested and certified by a United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) approved body.

Designing out crime

Achieving Secured by Design on a development begins at design or planning stage in order to ensure that products specified are in accordance with the requirements of the SBD scheme. However, that doesn’t prevent a Secured by Design product being retrofitted into an existing building. The SBD trained Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs), who work for police forces, provide crime prevention design advice to architects, developers and planners.

The Secured by Design scheme is one of a number of crime prevention schemes run by Police Crime Prevention Initiatives, a police organisation that works on behalf of the Police Service to reduce crime and the fear of crime in a wide range of sectors including residential homes and business premises.

Specifying Security Portals to a recognised security standard such as Secured by Design, which incorporates anti-tailgating features, is essential when designing a physical access control barrier in multi occupancy buildings such as offices. With Secured by Design proven to reduce burglary and crime rates by up to 75% on new build developments and up to 60% on refurbishments¹, our recently accredited Security Portals provide an effective method of tackling crime. The sleek aesthetics of our C190 Security Portals means the overall design is not compromised, making them a great solution for office buildings.

As you would expect, our Secured by Design approved Security Portals prevent people tailgating or ‘piggy backing’ their way into the building, which the City of London Police identified as a common means of entry by criminals. All our Security Portals can prevent this by creating a physical barrier that only allows one authorised person at a time to pass.

Along with Secured by Design, our C190-S1 to S3 Security Portals recently achieved another world-first when it gained approval to Loss Prevention Standard (LPS) 1175: Issue 7 Security Ratings 1 to 3. LPS 1175 sets out requirements and testing procedures for the LPCB approval and listing of intruder resistant building components, strongpoints, security enclosures and free-standing barriers. LPS 1175 is an important security standard for forced entry resistance

Design lead approach

Gaining Secured by Design and LPS 1175 means that our C190 S1-S3 Security Portals provide a robust physical barrier at entry points, and also look great. That means architects and security specifiers no longer have to make compromises between security and aesthetics.

Until relatively recently, they had to choose between safeguarding building occupants or retaining aesthetics of the entrance area. They could either specify a low level security solution that looked aesthetically pleasing, such as a revolving door (but which wasn’t designed to resist a forced entry attempt and wouldn’t meet SBD or LPS 1175), or specify an LPS 1175 approved doorset that creates a robust physical entrance barrier but won’t prevent tailgating (and usually looks austere and unwelcoming).

However, that has all changed with our C190 S1-S3 Cylindrical Security Portals. They look great and meet both SBD and LPS1175 requirements, meaning no more compromises. Our C190 Security Portal is aesthetically pleasing because it is a fully-glazed system that can operate as a high security interlocking door to prevent tailgating or as a prestigious entrance solution, allowing the transit of multiple people at the same time. It has a spacious 1200mm wide cabin entrance, suitable for wheelchair access, making it a great alternative to revolving doors.

Summary

Physical Security is about managing risk and Secured by Design and LPS 1175 provide reassurance that a third party accredited body has approved the physical entrance barrier system and it provides a known level of resistance to criminal attack.

The alarming number of thefts from the City of London, and from offices around the UK, means that now is the time to take action to stop criminals in their track. It’s worth bearing in mind that thieves seem to be much more active between 5pm-6pm and especially on Fridays, according to the City of London police. It’s one of the reasons why we made sure our C190 can be configured with different transits modes, for example day/ night mode. That way, for example, it can be configured to single person entry from close of business on Friday through to Monday morning.

A fully enclosed Secured by Design accredited Security Portal that provides a 24/7 physical security barrier with these kinds of options is one of the best ways of deterring criminals who think they can either make a forced entry or simply tailgate their way into your office.

For more information on our Secured by Design C190 S1-S3, E1G and FPJ140 2SX Security Portals, click here.

1. Secured by Design https://bit.ly/2PtpF3g