SBD National Building Approval gathers pace with 3,000 buildings added over the last six months

An innovative scheme run by Secured by Design (SBD), the national police crime prevention initiative, which makes it simpler, quicker and cheaper for companies and organisations commissioning construction work to include building security into all kinds of developments, is expanding quickly around the country.

A total of 6,494 buildings over 67 building sites have been registered with the SBD National Building Approval (SBD NBA) scheme – an increase of 3,000 buildings over the last six months.

These sites are located in 17 different Police Force areas around the UK.

There are 23 SBD NBA member companies and organisations, mostly in the new-build residential marketplace.

They include Barratt Homes (Eastern Division), Berkeley Homes (East Thames), Bovis Homes, Crest Nicholson, David Wilson Homes, Forman Homes Ltd, Gleeson Homes, Redrow and Taylor Wimpey.

Springfield Properties has become the first developer in Scotland to join NBA.

Among the NBA member organisations commissioning building work, such as social landlords and housing associations, is London and Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q), also known as Quadrant Construction, which is the largest landlord in Greater London. They have 90,000 homes under management across London and the South East and are one of the largest residential property developers with ambitions to build 100,000 more over the next 10 years.

During November 2017, the SBD NBA scheme welcomed its first contractor, Durkan Ltd, of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, along with its associated development company Durkan Estates Ltd, which deals with land purchases and planning permissions.

In addition, SBD is poised to engage with local authorities about NBA and gain their membership too.

SBD NBA was launched in 2016 and seeks to deliver security for new-build developments and major refurbishment schemes across a wide range of sectors, including residential, commercial, retail, mixed-use, transport, health, education, leisure and many others.

One of the scheme’s main benefits is that, after agreement has been reached on the basic level of building security to be provided before any development is planned or built, SBD takes on the administrative task of carrying out due diligence on the member company’s supply chain.

This is to ensure that security standards for products, including doors, windows and roof-lights, are compliant with the Building Regulations in England and Scotland, and/or meet the requirements set by SBD, whichever is applicable.

Many companies and organisations tell us that executing due diligence can be extremely difficult and time consuming and SBD has removed a significant burden from them.

Once an agreement is in place, members simply register their future building developments or refurbishment schemes using a single, one-page form. Once received, SBD issues a Silver Certificate for the site they have registered in advance of any building work to recognise the steps taken to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour. Companies and organisations can join prior to registering sites.

The Certificate is valid for a development anywhere in the UK and does not require a separate local agreement to be reached with that area’s Police Force. New building designs or types can be added or removed at any time, as can any new door, window or roof-light supplier.

Our work with the Department for Communities and Local Government, National House Building Council, Local Authority Building Control and the Building Control Alliance, means that the SBD Silver Certificate can be used by members as evidence to discharge their third-party obligations under Part Q of Schedule 1 (Security) to the Building Regulations 2010 in England and the Scottish Building Standard 4.13 – Security.

It also discharges any other obligation placed upon the build by third parties to gain Section 2 (Physical Security) approval from the range of SBD published Building Guides, including SBD Homes, SBD Commercial and SBD Schools.

Visit http://www.securedbydesign.com/sbd-national-building-approval/ for more information or contact us at sbdnba@police-cpi.co.uk