UAP Hosts DOCO Awareness Day at Greater Manchester Facility
Lancashire-based UAP Ltd, a leading manufacturer of door and window hardware and one of the founding members of Secured by Design (SBD), recently hosted a successful Awareness Day for Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs) at their state-of-the-art facility.
Celebrating 25 years as an SBD member, UAP welcomed a group of DOCOs to its Fire Door Maintenance (FDM) Training Centre, offering a hands-on experience with some of the company’s innovative and Police Preferred Specification-accredited products. Attendees explored UAP’s wide portfolio of over 6,000 hardware solutions, including high-security 3-star cylinders, window restrictors, and letterplates.
The FDM Training Centre, opened in 2024, is the first of its kind in the UK and was developed to address growing concerns around fire safety and compliance in the built environment. Informed by lessons from the Grenfell tragedy and aligned with the Building Safety Act 2022, the facility delivers accredited training focused on the correct inspection, maintenance and installation of fire doors. With a curriculum shaped by the ‘golden thread’ principle, the centre provides essential knowledge for improving safety standards and ensuring that fire door components meet the most rigorous performance criteria.
The event made full use of UAP’s dedicated training corridors, where delegates could explore real-world door and hardware installations designed to provoke questions, discussion and deeper understanding of how products perform in situ.
Nicola John, Managing Director, said: “We were delighted to provide a fire door seminar and training for SBD and DOCO teams at FDM. At our 3000sq ft practical training facility, we offer fire door training for the entire supply chain from procurement through to maintenance.
“Part of our ethos is engaging with the community and professional groups and associations to increase knowledge around fire door compliance, and the FDM and wider UAP team thoroughly enjoyed imparting knowledge and giving tours of the facility.”
Hazel Goss, Development Officer at Secured by Design, commented: "I had a lovely day at the centre and the facilities are excellent - the training and breakout rooms are spacious, airy, and ideal for any meeting. I particularly loved the training corridors, with each door opening into a different scenario or offering practical advice. Seeing these items installed brought them to life and sparked meaningful conversations.
“The day was all about gaining knowledge and understanding, and I certainly did. The feedback from others has been equally positive. An excellent afternoon, and thank you to all involved.”
Founded in 1996, UAP has grown from a hardware import business into an award-winning industry leader. With more than 30 products accredited to Police Preferred Specification, UAP continues to champion innovation, security, and quality across the built environment.
You can find out more about UAP and their Secured by Design accredited products on their dedicated member page.
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.
Secured by Design
Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (Police CPI), which is part of the UK Police Service, delivers a wide range of crime prevention and demand reduction initiatives across the UK. Secured by Design (SBD) is the most well-known of the extensive Police CPI portfolio, with all initiatives designed to keep the public safe from crime and to reduce the demand on the police service.
SBD seeks to improve the security of buildings and their immediate surroundings to provide safe places to live, work, shop and visit. SBD work closely with builders, developers, local authorities and registered housing associations to incorporate its police crime prevention standards into developments from initial concept and design, through to construction and completion. Police forces throughout the UK have specially trained Designing Out Crime Officers (DOCOs) who offer police designing out crime and SBD advice free of charge.
SBD also operates an accreditation scheme on behalf of the UK Police Service for products or services that have met recognised security standards. These products or services - which must be capable of deterring or preventing crime - are known as being of a ‘Police Preferred Specification’.
There are many hundreds of companies who produce over 7000 individual attack resistant crime prevention products in more than 30 different categories that have met the exacting Police Preferred Specification. This includes doors, windows, external storage, bicycle and motorcycle security, locks and hardware, asset marking, alarms, CCTV, safes, IoT connected products, perimeter security products and many others. SBD is the only way for companies to obtain police recognition for security-related products in the UK.
SBD is the only way for companies to obtain police recognition for security-related products in the UK.