20
JUNE 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Revisiting Commercial
and Residential Security
and Safety Standards
Energy efficient doors
and windows that are
safe are an important
element for commercial
and domestic property owners to consider
in light of changes to
building regulations
and variations in people’s lifestyles.
Figures from the Office for
National Statistics show that
offences against businesses
make up around 20% of all
recorded crime in the UK.
In addition, a recent survey
revealed that 73% of homebuyers list secure doors
and windows as a property
‘must-have’.
Nick Cooper, Technical Director at AluK discusses the
various certifications and
specifications required for
secure, safe and energy efficient windows and doors.
ate noise whilst attempting
to gain entry.
With the PAS 24 standard
also being applicable to
commercial door systems,
the other performance and
test standard to look out for
is LPS 1175 which tests both
window and door systems.
The test has eight levels
of certification stipulating
the allowable toolset and
minimum or maximum time
at each security rating to
prevent forcible entry.
Security
The two main performance
and test standards for
burglar resistance for residential window and door
systems are the European
standard EN 1627 and the
UK specific standard PAS
24. Both standards look to
confirm that complete fabricated doors and windows
have passed the prescribed
tests, offering an enhanced
security performance from
attack.
PAS 24 testing focuses on
being able to resist repeatable and consistent mechanical loads and dynamic
impacts with a final manual
intervention test. EN 1627
requires testing of the complete system against manual
attack based on a grading
system. The test specifies
six levels of attack resistance with the lower three
levels focusing on situations
where an intruder would
use stealth rather than cre-
Further to the above performance and testing standards is the official UK Police
flagship initiative, Secured
by Design (SBD) which
supports the principles of
‘designing out crime’ and is
owned by the Association
of Chief Police Officers
(APCO).
SBD focuses on crime
prevention of homes and
commercial premises and
promotes the use of security
standards for a wide range
of applications and products. The principles of SBD
have been proven to achieve
a reduction of crime risk by
up to 75%. Their objective
is to reduce burglary and
crime in the UK through
physical security and processes.
For dwellings in England
receiving Building Regulations approval after 1st
October 2015, one thing
to keep in mind is that the
new Building Regulations
Part Q and Approved Document Q will be in operation.
The Approved Document
requires that reasonable
provision is made to resist
unauthorised access to new
dwellings or to any part
of a building from which
access can be gained to a
flat within that building.
It sets out standards for
doors and windows to resist
physical attack by a casual
or opportunist burglar by
being sufficiently robust
and fitted with appropriate
hardware. Manufacturers,
designers, contractors and
installers will be responsible for implementing the
requirements of this new
legislation.
Safety
Manufacturers have to
comply with EU regulations
relating to the health and
safety requirements for
their products. In 2013, the
EU introduced mandatory
CE marking, compelling
manufacturers to carry
out associated procedures
and develop a system for
complying with health and
safety requirements as well
as for documentation. In the
case of windows and doors
manufacturers this is BS
EN 14351-1, Windows and
doors – product standard,
performance characteristics; Part 1: Windows and
external pedestrian doorsets without resistance to
fire and/or smoke leakage
characteristics (Published
hEN).
CE marking is a ‘passport’
for technical data, enabling
a product to be placed
legally on the EU market.
Responsibility for ensuring that a product has the
correct characteristics for a
particular application still
rests with the designers,
contractors and building
authorities.
Mandatory CE marking
highlights the necessity of
well designed, good value
products that come with
all the right certifications.
Furthermore, various sectors
have individual safety and
security requirements that
need to be adhered to, making CE marking a complex
issue.
Additional safety legislation to comply with includes:
• Building Regulations Part
B (England and Wales):
Fire safety - relating to
the standard means of
escape
• Building Regulations Part
J (England and Wales):
Combustion appliances
and fuel storage systems.
• Building Regulations Part
K (England and Wales):
Protection from falling.
• Building Regulations Part
N (England and Wales):
Glazing safety relates to
the impact, opening and
cleaning of systems.
• BS 8213 Part 1: Safe
cleaning and operation of
windows and doors.
Energy Efficient
For windows and doors in
commercial properties, the
main feature to look out for
is U-values.
Thermally efficient window and door systems
should provide lower
U-values, equating to better
insulation. The current minimum U-value requirement
for commercial properties
in England is 1.6 W/M²K for
windows and 1.8W/M²K for
doors.
As for residential properties, the current Building
Regulations in England
require all new properties to have windows and
glazed doors with a U
value of 1.4w/m2k in order
to achieve the notional
dwelling specification. For
replacement windows to
existing properties a key
feature to look for is the
Window Energy Rating
(WER), which provides a
guide to the energy efficiency of window systems.
www.aluk.co.uk