DOORS, WINDOWS & BALUSTRADES
UAP PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN HELPING DOOR MANUFACTURERS PASS THE TEST With more people working from home and staying in during the evening due to the pandemic, burglary figures have reduced over the past two years. But the downward trend is an anomaly. Expensive and portable tech, car keys, bank cards and even correspondence from which thieves can harvest data are all lucrative reasons for the criminal fraternity to keep developing techniques for breaking into others’ homes.
A
s things return to normal and the nights draw in for winter, we’re reminded that there are plenty who will take a risk on being caught for these rich pickings, often even audaciously breaking in while a property’s residents are at home in bed or watching TV. To help protect homeowners and tenants from this threat, the Government introduced Approved Document Q: Security, Dwellings in 2015; statutory Building Regulations guidance, which outlines the standards required for doors and windows in new properties to protect the occupier from the threat of burglary. To comply with Document Q, doors installed in new homes must pass PAS 24 testing, a rigorous testing process that requires the fully-finished door, including all hardware and locks, to withstand attempt to gain access. Barry Halpin, Sales Director at UAP, explains: “Mandatory testing is integral to product
18
development costs for door manufacturers and any door that does not pass first time must be re-tested until it meets the required standard. Consequently, any element of the door that does not pass, no matter what it might be, can cause the whole door to fail, incurring the costs associated with re-testing and delays in bringing the finished door to market. “UAP’s approach is to work in partnership with door manufacturers to provide a complete set of door hardware and the locking system, combining products that have already undergone substantial testing and quality assurance, to enable a first-time pass for newly-developed doors. We also ensure that the hardware we provide delivers a coordinated aesthetic, aligned to the design of the door and provide full technical support and guidance during production selection, installation and throughout the testing process.”
Multiple tests One of the UK door manufacturers that has benefitted from this approach is PDS Doorsets, a specialist in composite doors and fire doors for residential properties. UAP supports PDS’ R&D and testing regimes by providing complete sets of hardware as test samples, including Fullex multipoint locks TS008 Soterian letterplates, Duo door handles and Kinetica 3-star cylinders. For fire door products, UAP provides locks and hardware from its Firemongery range of fire safety products, which have already been thoroughly tested and certified for firerated installations. Ben Davies, Testing Compliance Manager at PDS, comments: “The hardware elements installed in a door are often the most vulnerable points for burglars seeking to gain access. While the lock is the obvious focus for
security, the letterplate and other fixtures could also be a potential weakness if the products are not welldesigned, manufactured to a high standard, compliant and installed properly. “When we work with UAP, we are dealing with a company that has worked in the sector for 25 years and is constantly investing in new product development, so we know we can trust them to offer us the right combination of security, fire safety and aesthetics for each door we need to test. PAS 24 involves destructive testing, so having a partner that will provide us with enough complete sets of samples to put the required number of doors through their paces to prove compliance is a big help. It also means we can be confident of avoiding spiralling costs and delays due to re-testing.” The PAS 24 testing process includes scrutiny of both robust door fabrication and the
