Crime Prevention Academy Brings Designing Out Crime Principles to Titanic Quarter
Michael Brooke, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at Police CPI, has presented Titanic Quarter Ltd, Watkin Jones, GRAHAM, Lacuna Developments and TODD Architects with a Secured by Design (SBD) Gold award for Dargan House and Lady Pirrie House in Belfast.
Lady Pirrie House and Dargan House forms part of Loftlines, a new urban community in the Titanic Quarter, featuring sustainable homes across a range of tenures; including Build-to-Rent, affordable apartments, and social housing in the city centre. The development was approved as part of Belfast City Council’s broader housing strategy to address housing shortages along with enhancing public spaces and providing commercial and leisure amenities such as gyms, co-working spaces and community areas.
Michael Brooke, Pete Connolly, Anthony Best, James Eyre, Brian McHenry, John Monahan, Michael Daly
Secured by Design awards recognise projects that apply SBD principles to prevent crime through environmental design, including access control, natural surveillance, territorial reinforcement, maintenance and management and sense of place, alongside the implementation of police-endorsed third-party tested products such as secure windows, doors, locks, CCTV and lighting.
Pete Connolly acted as the SBD consultant on the project. Based in Northern Ireland, Pete is a trainer with the Police Crime Prevention Academy (the Academy), specialising in problem solving and delivering the Level 5 Designing Out Crime accredited vocational qualification. A former Designing Out Crime Officer, Pete’s expertise is sometimes called upon for consultancy work, where he applies his knowledge to projects that make a difference and help prevent crime in the built environment.
The development block offers a mix of social and affordable housing to accommodate 81 units (Dargan House) and 70 units (Lady Pirrie House). While all social housing in Northern Ireland must meet SBD Gold standards, this is not the case for other residential properties. It was important to Titanic Quarter and the developers, Lacuna Development, to create a residential area that was consistently safe across all the homes whether they were social housing or for sale.
Before photos
Construction began in May 2022, and the project was signed off in January 2026 with SBD principles adopted throughout. Pete had an instrumental role providing technical guidance, for example finding solutions for the stair and building floor plates that required additional access control, sourcing suitable suppliers and products and facilitating workshops with contractors/developers GRAHAM to come up with workable solutions to problems. Regular communication and collaboration with GRAHAM resulted in a successful and smooth build.
Loftlines new development
Loftlines forms part of an ambitious multi-million-pound regeneration in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, an area spanning 185 acres of waterfront on the former Harland and Wolff Shipyard. Once a thriving dockyard and the location where RMS Titanic was designed and built, the Titanic Quarter has been transformed into a vibrant mixed-use zone including tourist and heritage sites, residential housing blocks, commercial workspaces, leisure and entertainment facilities and venues. The centrepiece of the project is the Titanic Belfast museum which draws in crowds from around the world.
Pete said, “This has been a great project for me. To work with the development team from the early concept state I consulted throughout all the development and the team were on site and in regular contact seeing assurance and guidance. That level of consultation allows for a smoother integration of SBD”.
Anthony Best, Michael Brooke & James Eyre
Anthony Best, Managing Director of Lacuna Developments said, “Lacuna is delighted to see this award recognised all the hard work by the team over the last number of years. At the heart of Dargan House and Lady Pirrie House at Loftlines has been a commitment to setting new standards for social and affordable housing in Belfast and this award is testament to that. I would particularly like to thank GRAHAM and Todd Architects”.
James Eyre, Chief Executive of Titanic Quarter said, “We are delighted to see Watkin Jones, GRAHAM, Lacuna Developments and TODD Architects presented with this award. It clearly demonstrates their commitment - and that of their wider team – to achieving the highest Secured by Design Gold standards here in Titanic Quarter.”
Michael Bunyan, Group Development Director at Watkin Jones said, “This accreditation reflects the rigour behind our collaborative approach and commitment along with our partners to create safe, high-quality homes which are also built with a high level of security in mind. As we continue delivering Loftlines, this award reinforces the value of designing responsibly as we help shape a sustainable new neighborhood for the residents of Belfast.”
Michael Daly, Chief Officer of Belfast Harbour Police, said, “Secured by Design recognises developments that follow nationally recognised police standards for crime prevention through construction and design. These principles were built into Loftlines from the very beginning and are shaping a neighbourhood that is safe and welcoming. Creating places where people feel secure is central to community wellbeing, and developments built to this standard make a meaningful contribution to supporting policing and fostering safer neighbourhoods”.
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Police Crime Prevention Academy
The Academy delivers an extensive range of prevention and problem solving training, from CPD courses through to accredited vocational qualifications that are recognised by UK employers alongside bespoke training programmes. To find out more please visit the Academy website here.
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.