Sutton Healthcare Site Receives Development Award at ATLAS Conference

The development in Hardegray Close, which includes a GP surgery and three residential units, received an SBD Silver Award in 2024 - an achievement that laid the groundwork for its ATLAS accolade, awarded in recognition of exceptional Designing Out Crime Officer (DOCO) engagement and innovative application of SBD principles in a healthcare setting. These achievements followed a long-term commitment to security-led design driven by Met Police DOCO PC Anthony Walters.

From the outset, the development was not expected to pursue SBD accreditation, with planning permission granted without a full SBD condition. As such, the original design brief did not include the standard security enhancements typically required. However, Anthony recognised both the potential risks and opportunities, particularly given the broader challenges with anti-social behaviour elsewhere in the borough, and began consultation with the design team in June 2020.

One of the key obstacles was the absence of dedicated SBD guidance for GP surgeries. Anthony navigated this by drawing on elements from both the commercial and hospital SBD guides, applying them proportionately and persuasively. The initial reluctance of the design team to adopt full SBD measures, especially around third-party certified doors and internal compartmentation, was overcome through a combination of local crime evidence, site-specific risk assessments, and persistent engagement.

Ultimately, the project team implemented a series of enhanced security measures, including:

• Third-party certified communal entrance doors

• Additional access-controlled doors beyond reception, allowing for internal compartmentation

• Secure storage for medical gases and staff valuables

• A raised reception desk and designated emergency room for staff safety

Despite being a relatively quiet location within Belmont Ward, an area with an average of 43 crimes per month, PC Walters stressed the importance of futureproofing the site, especially given growing concerns in the wider borough.

Between November 2023 and October 2024, there were no recorded crimes at Hardegray Close. This impressive result is a by-product of a deeply collaborative and security-conscious design process - one that was advocated for at every stage.

Anthony’s work has also had lasting impact beyond this site. The successful delivery of this project and its recognition with the ATLAS Award has prompted Sutton Council to proactively re-engage with the local DOCO team. This has already led to joint work on a review of Sutton’s high street, where ongoing anti-social behaviour, particularly youths engaging in rooftop parkour, has raised concerns.

Anthony was presented with the award at Secured by Design’s ATLAS training event by Police Crime Prevention Initiatives CEO Guy Ferguson and South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Lauren Poultney, the head of profession for police Designing Out Crime Officers.

What is Secured by Design?

Secured by Design (SBD) is the official police security initiative that works to improve the security of buildings and their immediate surroundings to provide safe places to live, work, shop and visit.

SBD’s product based accreditation scheme, the Police Preferred Specification, provides a recognised standard for all security products that can deter and reduce crime.

There are currently many hundreds of companies producing thousands of attack resistant crime prevention products, across 30 different crime categories, which have achieved Police Preferred Specification.

Improved security

Developers around the UK can achieve SBD awards for incorporating crime prevention measures and techniques into their developments in all kinds of building sectors, such as residential, education, health, transport, commercial, retail, sport and leisure. Indeed, SBD can be used as evidence to discharge third-party obligations under Part Q of Schedule 1 (Security) to the English Building Regulations, the Scottish Building Standard 4.13 (Security) and Welsh Building Regulations Part Q (Security - Dwellings). These awards are gained by working with police Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs), who advise architects, developers and local authority planners long before construction begins - and continue to provide advice and guidance until the development is complete.

Academic and other research shows that improving standards of security in brand new and refurbished properties, helps deter and reduce crime. Reducing crime and the fear of crime has direct links to better physical and mental well-being, such as with regard to high volume crimes like domestic abuse.   

The built environment influences the behaviour of people who work, live, socialise or simply pass through. SBD seeks to create environments where the law-abiding feel safe and secure whilst at the same time causing the criminal or anti-social to feel vulnerable to detection and thereby influence behaviour in a positive way. This continues to be a key objective for SBD.

Find out more about SBD Developers Awards here.

SBD Design Guides

SBD has produced a series of authoritative Design Guides to assist the building, design and construction industry to incorporate security into developments to comply with the Building Regulations in England, Scotland and Wales and meet the requirements of SBD.

These Design Guides, available to download for free at the SBD website, have been updated over the years to keep pace with changing patterns of criminal behaviour and advances in building design and new technology.

They are a valuable source of reference to architects, developers, self-builders, local authority planners and police officers and cover a range of building sectors, including residential, education, health, transport and commercial. 

Police Designing Out Crime Officers

DOCOs provide specialist crime reduction advice to the public, businesses and colleagues about premises or property security. They also work with building developers, architects, and council planning departments regarding new developments and refurbishments, to 'design out' crimes like burglary and anti-social behaviour (ASB) by providing advice on street lighting, building and street layout, entrances and exits - as well as preferred standards and specifications for doors, windows, and locks, under the Secured by Design initiative. 

DOCOs are able to deliver site specific interventions required to help design out crime in areas that suffer disproportionately from acquisitive crime, based on local crime pattern analysis, police, local authority and community engagement and the collective knowledge and experience of how criminals behave.

DOCOs are specialist problem solvers, working every day to make a positive difference, changing lives for the better and helping people to be safe and secure in their homes.

Contact details for local DOCOs can be found here.