When the senior management team at Kier Living was seeking a solution to their ‘no one shut’s the gate’ problem – they found there was nothing to suit their demands. That was until they started talking to Kent-based Solar Gates UK about their fixed solar barrier and gate installations.
Kier needed a product that was fully mobile, rugged enough for building sites, clever enough for safety audits, suitable for vehicles and pedestrians and fully self-powered. A tall order - and a new product was born.
In just three months from concept to prototype, the new SOSEC barrier was designed and developed to meet all Kier’s demands. In the following three months, the SOSEC brand was trademarked, registered with the UK Patent office and rolled out to a further 22 Kier sites.
“We have a duty of care to provide better public demarcation from our work sites and a commitment with the Health & Safety Executive to do everything we can to ensure this.” Explains Rob Crossland, Regional Director, Kier Living. “We had tried a ‘shut the gate’ campaign for a year, with virtually no effect. I loved the idea of solar powered barriers and knew they worked. What I couldn’t find was anyone who had made the concept mobile yet rugged and suitable for pedestrians and vehicles. The team at Solar Gates were clearly experts in their field. They not only got the idea, they got fully behind it and within weeks we were looking at CAD drawings and our SOSEC barrier gate was well on the way to reality” continues Rob.
“Working with Kier has been a fantastic project” explains Neil Sampson, managing director at Solar Gates. “The SOSEC concept combines what have traditionally been difficult security needs to combine – mobility, security, ruggedness, multiple users, traffic barriers, pedestrian gates, solar powered, British winters – not your normal security needs. But we have brought it all together in a single, easy to deliver and seamless to operate product.”
“With many Kier sites now installed and several other major housebuilders using SOSEC barriers, we have seen that the design has hit the right place in the short term security market. Cutting security costs without harming the environment is the massive added bonus of SOSEC barriers.”
Solar power and power storage are unique elements of the SOSEC system that can operate up to 900 times per day – even in a British winter. A fast 5m traffic barrier with rugged, locked and self-closing pedestrian gate ensures it is safe for pedestrians and meets the BS/EN 13245 safety standards.
The SOSEC family includes the combo, as used with Kier sites, a solo vehicle barrier used in industries such as mining or events and a highways version. Access control for users can be as simple as remote control operation through to 3G intercom, CSCS card access, codes or fingerprint access.
“Using SOSEC barriers on Kier sites has allowed us to cut site security costs, improve public demarcation, reduce HSE interventions whilst not compromised on the need to manage large amounts of traffic movements in busy work areas. We have a solid commitment to roll out SOSEC to all Kier sites across the UK in the coming months.” concludes Rob Crossland.