Secured By Design is a police organisation working alongside the Police Service in the UK. They seek to achieve sustainable reductions in crime through design and other approaches to reduce the demand on police forces and help people live in a safer society.

SBD was created in 1989 following the housing boom of the 1960s-1980s when there was a huge and urgent demand for housing. Estates were built quickly and often cheaply without any basic security. Burglars found externally glazed windows and doors relatively easy to enter as all they had to do in many cases was lift out the double-glazing and climb through the frame.

In the wider built environment, sky walkways and subways incorporated into many large estates were designed to keep apart pedestrians and the rapidly growing number of vehicles. However, this created a haven for criminal activities where escape routes were everywhere and anonymity was absolute. In response, the Police Service set up SBD to combat the significant rise in burglary.

SBD started working with industry bodies and manufacturers to tackle the variations in the quality of the product being sold against the product that was originally tested.

With SBD driving the market, it resulted in test houses being created and certification bodies set up to meet the demand. This work over many years has raised the awareness of the importance and benefits of security throughout the standards and construction industry.

Today, products like steel doors and aluminium windows have to be certified by a United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) certification body before being considered for SBD’s Police Preferred Specification.

If you’d like to discuss your steel security door requirements, please call us on 0191 646 0013 or use the contact form below to send us a message.