Police help to design low-crime buildings

More homes and buildings have been designed to prevent crime in West Yorkshire than anywhere in the UK outside London according to new figures.

In excess of 10,000 properties in West Yorkshire have now been given Secured by Design (SBD) status by West Yorkshire Police after being designed and built with the assistance of the force's Architectural Liaison Officers.

Buildings include award winning multi-million pound health centres, housing estates, car parks and more and if put together they would form a small working town in terms of mixture and size.

The success comes with the completion of a new housing estate in Allerton, Bradford, which has been designed in partnership between the Force, Manningham Housing Association and Strata Homes Builders and means there are now 10,019 SBD buildings in the county.

It has been welcomed by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) who believes West Yorkshire Police is one of the country's most successful forces at working in partnership to implement Secured By Design principles in buildings. The Force currently has eight architectural liaison officers who work across all districts with developers and councils to help design new buildings at the planning stage to ensure they are as resistant to crime as possible.

On September 12 the Force is to hold a major conference to promote the subject at the Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford. Delegates from across the county are being invited to attend the briefing to listen to the latest advice and best practice on the subject of designing out crime from national experts.

Michael Brooke, Architectural Liaison Officer for West Yorkshire Police, said: "We are absolutely delighted to have become the first area outside of London to have passed the 10,000 mark for SBD buildings. This demonstrates both the enthusiasm of the Force and our partners for adopting these principles and working together to try ensure the risk of crime in new buildings is minimised."