What is Secured By Design?
A national police initiative, Secured By Design (SBD) is a recognised accreditation available for building products focusing on crime prevention.
An independent, external body from the security industry and other certification houses, SBD is recognised as a measurable standard for quality security products.
History of Secured By Design
Established in 1989 by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), SBD works with UK police forces and other organisations to actively reduce crime through innovative design.
The 1960s – 1980s saw an unprecedented housing boom. Residential estates across the country were built quickly and cheaply without any basic security measures.
The result was a significant rise in burglaries.
SBD was created to combat firstly, the growing demand on the police forces, and secondly to support communities within a safer environment.
How is SBD implemented?
With a focus on new and refurbished homes, commercial premises and car parks, products can achieve the police preferred specification in a number of ways.
Each police force has an Architectural Liaison Officer (ALO) or a Crime Prevention Design Advisor (CPDA). Alongside a Designing Out Crime Office (DOCO) of Secured By Design, a building or proposed plan will undergo an assessment.
The assessment determines how effective any security procedures implemented on-site are.
Alongside architects, developers and local authority planners, SBD leads the implementation of crime prevention techniques at an early design stage. This involves:
- the physical security of the building
- layout and landscaping of the immediate surroundings
At a more strategic level, SBD works closely with manufacturers and other industry bodies to ensure that products recommended can meet the minimum standard required.
Working with other security standards
As an independent body, Secured By Design addresses risks not otherwise covered by existing national and international standards or codes.
The team of experts behind standards such as LPS 1175 by the Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) represent major interest groups.
Whereas LPCB design the standards (and therefore the products) to combat a variety of circumstances, the team at SBD respond and analyse to trends in crime.
Major SBD achievements
The principles of this initiative have worked tremendously well.
With a proven track record of both reducing the risk of crime and the fear of crime, developments using products and materials that meet Secured By Design standards are up to 75% less likely to be burgled.
In the 30 years of SBD, more than one million homes have been built with products and techniques recommended by the initiative.