Following 25 years of our successful trading Partnership with Decayeux, Aldridge are delighted to have been appointed the Exclusive Distributor for the new D Series range of Postboxes in the UK and Ireland. The agreement was finalised during a recent visit to France where Stephane Decayeux, MD of the Decayeux Group and Ainsley Hawkins, MD of Aldridge Security Ltd agreed to further strengthen the trading partnership between the two companies.

The D Series range of Postboxes will slowly replace the current Brabantia ranges. The Postbox design, quality and pricing will remain exactly the same, the only difference being a change of branding to Decayeux and the “D” prefix replacing the current “B” prefix on the current range.In addition to the Exclusive Agreement for the D Series range, Aldridge will enhance their existing relationship with Decayeux further by increasing their range and stock holding of the traditional Decayeux range of Postboxes.

The additional Decayeux ranges are now available from stock for Next Day delivery, full details can be found here.

EVVA has joined Secured by Design (SBD), the UK’s police crime prevention initiative, which seeks to improve building security to reduce crime. SBD has accredited six of the company’s Euro Profile cylinder locks – all BSI Kitemark certified: 3KSplus, EPS and MCS.

SBD Development Officer Doug Skins said: “We are pleased that this innovative company is joining the SBD family with their products and we are looking forward to working with them.”

Doug Skins presented Heiner Dolinar, EVVA Vice President Products, with their SBD certificate at a ceremony at the company’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on Tuesday, 13 June. “SBD has worked on crime prevention in the UK for nearly 30 years with great success”, said Heiner Dolinar. “Being part of SBD is an important part of our strategy for further growth in the UK market.”

Andy Lewis, EVVA Commercial Brand Manager for Aldridge Security added: “Now having SBD on EVVA products allows us to offer the complete solution, EVVA is now one of the only Cylinder Manufacturers in the UK to offer a restricted patented Cylinder achieving TS007 1*, 3* and now Secure By Design.”

The complete solution

Approved Document Q was introduced to improve security regulations for residential properties. From this coming October, the regulations outlined in Approved Document Q will come into full effect. As such, we thought it might be useful to shed some light on the common questions we’ve been hearing from our customers.
What buildings does Approved Document Q apply to?

Approved Document Q applies to all new dwellings including commercial properties (such as warehouses or barns) that are newly converted into a dwelling. Here a dwelling can be defined as “a place of residence or habitation” such as a house, flat or apartment. This includes student accommodation where groups of bedrooms share a final exit door (much like an apartment).

• New dwellings including homes and flats
• Conversions of commercial properties into dwellings
• Clustered student accommodation with a shared final exit door

What buildings are exempt from Approved Document Q?

Currently, existing homes, hotels and dwelling extensions are not required to meet the security requirements within Approved Document Q. In addition to this, student accommodation where bedrooms open onto a shared hallway, are also exempt from Approved Document Q.

• Existing dwellings
• Hotels (both new and existing)
• Extensions
• Student accommodation without shared final exit door

Which applications does Approved Document Q apply to?

• Residential entrance doors
• Balcony doors
• Easily accessible windows, roof windows and skylights
• Communal entrance doors (flats/apartments)
• Doors that allow access into common areas of a building, i.e. flats & apartments (including both egress and non-egress doors)
• Connecting doors between the garage and the dwelling (applies either to the connecting door OR any doors that allow external access to the garage)

Which products are exempt from Approved Document Q?

• Replacement windows

Where can I get more information?

We recommend you read Approved Document Q for yourself, which is readily available on the Government website. Should you require specific technical advice, we suggest contacting your local building control authority or industry technical body.