More than twelve months ago the Building Regulations were extended to include Part Q. This requires new homes in England to incorporate provisions to resist unauthorised access. Approved Document Q (ADQ), which supports Part Q, requires that doors and windows must be capable of resisting attack by a casual or opportunist burglar by being both sufficiently robust and fitted with appropriate hardware.
The DHF (Door & Hardware Federation), which represents the building hardware sector, has produced a Best Practice Guide to ADQ. The guide contains advice on how the requirements can be met and how the security performance of doors and windows can be verified.
House builders will need to present evidence of ADQ compliance to building control officers so they can check and assess this in order to determine whether the installed doorsets and door and window hardware comply with the quoted standards. Both the DHF and Secured by Design recommend that independent third party certification of door and window hardware from a UKAS-accredited certification authority makes the process considerably easier for the house builder. Such certification offers the assurance that the installed products will meet ADQ.
House builders can take a simplified route to compliance if they join the Secured by Design National Building Approval (SBD NBA) scheme. This is granted to developers who regularly build houses to a similar design and specification. SBD NBA will agree all aspects of the physical security within the building. This process is only undertaken once, saving time and money, and it will then form the security criteria that must be met for all SBD Building Approval schemes undertaken by that developer. SBD has secured the approval of the Department for Communities and Local Government and Building Control Officers that SBD NBA is accepted as proof of ADQ compliance.
The DHF Best Practice Guide to ADQ is available from www.dhfonline.org.uk .
Details of the Secured by Design National Building Approval are available from http://www.securedbydesign.com/sbd-national-building-approval/
ADQ can be downloaded from www.planningportal.gov.uk .
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