CPTED

Crime prevention through environmental design or CPTED [pronounced 'sep-ted'] is a relatively new security consideration that is being rapidly adopted. Only in the last 20 years, have architects begun to see the need to plan for more than just disability issues and traditional threats in mind - fire, earthquakes, flooding and so on. They must now consider the threat of crime.

Simpily, CPTED advocates that proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in the fear and incidence of crime and an improvement in the quality of life, and enhancing profitability for business. It has been found that the physical environment can have a dramatic effect on our own behaviour and the way in which we view the behaviour of others. CPTED is a concept supported by a series of overlapping principles based on the relationship of the built environment to the presence or absence or undesirable behaviour.

Emphasis is placed on the physical environment, productive use of space, and behaviour of people to create environments that are absent of environmental cues for crime to occur. The secret to CPTED is design that eliminates or reduces criminal behaviour and at the same time encourages people to 'keep an eye out for each other'.

For CPTED to be optimal, Security Advisory must be called into the project prior to architectural designs being finalised. The best placement of our CPTED services comes during the "schematic architectural phase" of the project.

Sometimes, a client is in a situation where they have already finalised their architectural plans and are moving forwards with construction when they realise they need to consider CPTED. At this state, security and security systems have still not been designed on a detailed level. For these clients we can move directly into a process of needs analysis, systems specifications, conceptual design and formulating an engineering package.