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At a Glance |
Secured By Design (SBD) is a national police scheme for crime prevention to protect homes and commercial premises by designing out crime using appropriate products. The principles have been proven to achieve a reduction in crime of up to 75%, by combining minimum standards of physical security and proven principles of natural surveillance and defensible space. |
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The Challenge |
Until the SBD scheme, there was no accepted national standard for the physical security of domestic and commercial property. The building industry regarded security as a low priority because ‘security does not sell property’ and consequently standards were very low for new build property for example. |
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The Strategy |
The police formed an SBD project team from officers from police forces from the South East region, who appointed Rea Marketing to develop and manage a marketing campaign. The strategy was to agree and document a set of national standards for designing out crime, branded Secured By Design. Builders that met the standard could promote the design accordingly, as a marketing incentive.
The marketing campaign was to be entirely self-funding: with costs met through a sponsorship scheme that enabled suppliers to the building industry, with products that met police standards, to use a Secured by Design sponsorship logo and promote their association with the SBD scheme. |
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The Project |
Rea Marketing organised a major PR campaign to promote the scheme to the building and architectural industry, home and business owners and the security sector. A series of launch events were organised, including a national launch at the Guildhall, London in 1989, with the backing of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Home Office Crime Prevention Unit.
Across the UK £1 million were raised to pay for the PR programme and launch events, which included production of comprehensive, high-quality literature sets, which set out the standards. |
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The Results |
There has been major national take-up of SBD by the building industry, which has resulted in an estimated 50% reduction in burglaries where the scheme is applied. In Scotland and Wales social housing is now built or refurbished to SBD standards whilst a similar 2004 social housing compliance in England recently ceased with the government (DCLG) decision to only adopt SBD door and window security standards in a new Building Regulation.
The membership scheme for security suppliers includes over 400 companies whose products have been awarded ‘Police Preferred Specification’ status across a broad range, including doors, windows, bicycle security, perimeter fencing, mobile phones, roofing products and secondary glazing. |
