Choosing the Right Automatic Gates for Your Property

If you are considering automated gates for your property, whether that’s your home, your business or an educational establishment, you’ll already know many of the benefits they offer. These include increased security, more convenience and even the enhanced visual appearance of your premises’ exterior.

So what other decisions do you need to make before your industrial or residential security gates are installed?

Style and Substance

Your gates will represent a substantial addition to the exterior of your property. In fact, they will be the first thing people see on approach and can create a lasting impression. You therefore want to consider the style you choose carefully. Fortunately, there are an extensive range to choose from, including various metals, a selection of hard and soft woods, or a combination of the two.

Consider your own view from inside the property – do you want to be able to see the street beyond, or do you want total privacy? If you want a degree of visibility of what’s going on outside your property, you may want to opt for metal bars, whereas a solid wood, close-board gate design will obscure the view beyond. Alternatively, you could have a combination of the two, wood closed-board on the bottom and bars above, restricting the view of passers-by but allowing light and a degree of visibility out beyond your property.

Maintenance should also be a consideration here. If you opt for a soft wood like Douglas fir or pine, it’s likely you’ll have to treat them annually to preserve their strength and appearance. Harder woods require less maintenance; and many metal finishes are maintenance-free.

Good electric gate installers in Reading and beyond will offer a host of options, designs and finishes so you can choose what best suits your taste and style of property while still introducing impressive levels of security.

Your next choice comes in terms of how the gates will operate. Will you want swing gates or ones that slide open? Very often, this comes down to practicalities like how much space you have in your driveway. Swing gates require greater clearance to be able to open fully on one side. There must be enough clearance for vehicles too. Sliding gates, on the other hand, need less room to operate effectively, provided there’s enough space for them to draw back horizontally when opening.

In any automatic gate installation, one of the prime factors to take into account is safety. In terms of which is safer, sliding or swing gates, both have their dangers. Sliding gates can potentially cause crushing and shearing injuries, while swing gates’ hinges can cause pinching or crushing injuries and the gates themselves can cause impact and crushing injuries. The key here is to choose a trusted, reputable installer who will take account of anyone who might come into close proximity of the gates and design the safest system possible. A school gate installation, for example, might need to a higher level of safety than residential security gates.

Where Will Your Opening Mechanism Be Sited?

Automated gates necessarily need motors to open. Broadly speaking, the options here are whether you want that mechanism above ground or underground, inserted into the driveway and out of sight. The latter is the more expensive, but for many people, more visually appealing option.

Once you’ve considered the above, it’s time to talk to a professional firm specialising in automatic gate services. Whether you are looking for industrial security gates, or automated gates for your home or a school, expect a high-quality firm to spend a fair amount of time surveying your site and asking all the right questions to assess every aspect of your requirements, from who will use the gates and how, to longer term considerations like automatic gate repair, servicing and maintenance.

One firm you can trust to ask all the right questions and give you insight and helpful recommendations into the right gates to choose for your needs is Site Services UK. Based in Reading and operating in Ascot, Maidenhead, Windsor, wider Berkshire and beyond, we offer the best levels of customer service in all aspects of automatic gate design, installation and ongoing maintenance.

What You Need To Know About School Gate Installation

As a responsible education provider, you’ll know that the safety and security of your staff and pupils are of paramount importance, whether you run a school, a college or any other form of educational establishment. What’s more, there are regulatory requirements governing access control and security in schools, and the findings of Ofsted inspections can be adversely affected if the inspectors judge that you haven’t adequately considered steps to ensure that pupils are kept safe while they are on your school’s site.

Additional concerns can be raised if the entry of visitors or volunteers is not monitored sufficiently, as well as if school buildings and grounds are left vulnerable to unauthorised access when the school is empty. And that’s not to mention the expense and inconvenience of dealing with damage and petty vandalism, which can all detract from your budget and the school’s reputation.

Other Benefits of School Security

Monitoring main points of entry and exit is also important in ensuring that pupils are where they should be. Access control via automatic gates can cut down on truancy levels by ensuring pupils cannot slip away unnoticed during the course of the school day. Additionally, they add to your ability to make certain that you know who is on site in the event of a fire or other emergency, when it’s important to be able to confirm that everyone is accounted for.

And finally, good quality school gates can not only enhance the visual appeal of your premises, they also act as a valuable deterrent, preventing even the prospect of opportunistic unauthorised entry.

How To Get Started

If you are considering automatic gate installation for your educational premises but are worried about the expense, it’s important to note that many manual gates already present can be retrofitted with automation systems. It may not cost as much as you think to upgrade and enhance your site’s security.

Contact a reputable firm of electric gate installers for a site survey and assessment of your existing arrangements. You are looking for a firm that not only specialises in automated gates, but also one that has a great deal of experience in dealing with schools and other educational establishments. While the safety legislation surrounding automated gates is necessarily stringent in any situation, it is even more important where children are primarily involved, so you need a team of experts to ensure all safety criteria are met or exceeded.

Ask the firm you choose not only about installation costs, but also about ongoing repairs, servicing and maintenance. This is vital in ensuring you have the support you need in future in case there’s a breakdown and otherwise, to keep your gate fully compliant with Health and Safety regulations over the longer term.

If you’re in Reading, Ascot, Maidenhead, or Windsor in Berkshire, or in any of the surrounding counties, you can do no better than to contact Site Services UK. We are specialists in automatic gates for schools, as well as residential and industrial security gates. We also offer full automatic gate repair and service programmes to keep all our installations performing just as they should in future years.

Why Consider Installing Residential Security Gates?

A large part of our work here at Site Services UK involves advising private customers on the benefits of residential security gates, and then designing and installing the correct solutions for their requirements. If you are considering contacting an automatic gate service but are not sure whether electric gates are right for your property, it may help you in your decision making if we run through some of the benefits.

Upgrade Your Security

You may already have a burglar alarm installed, or perhaps even CCTV, but electric gates can complement and enhance your existing security measures, keeping your family and possessions better protected against unwanted intruders. According to figures from the latest annual Crime Survey for England and Wales from the Office of National Statistics, there were nearly 247,000 residential burglaries across the nation as a whole in 2020. That equates to around one in every 100 homes suffering an actual or attempted home intrusion last year alone. And around 84% of those victims, whether the burglary attempt was successful or not, reported feeling emotional distress or anxiety of some sort as a result.

One of the main advantages of electric gates is that they not only make it harder for would-be thieves to access your property, they are also a strong deterrent to opportunistic burglaries too. In short, electric gates give you and your family more peace of mind.

Protecting Vulnerable Family Members

Additionally, they can prevent young children and pets from straying into danger. If your kids or dogs are playing in the garden, you know they can’t stray into the street beyond unwittingly. Gates that make your property harder to access can also discourage pet thieves, which can be invaluable given the rise in dog thefts across the UK in recent times.

Easy Access for You

Electric gates also offer greater convenience when you want to get home. Instead of having to park up, get out of the car and open the gates manually, a simple touch of the button can open them to allow your vehicle access. That’s a great feature at night or when it’s pouring with rain, when you might feel more exposed to danger or inclement weather. If your gates are fitted with Smart technology, you can even lock and unlock them remotely if you need to.

Kerb Appeal

Good electric gate installers in Reading and beyond will also offer their automatic gates in a wide range of materials, colours and finishes, so you can choose an option which perfectly complements the style and nature of your property. And if you’re looking for commercial or industrial security gates for your business, they’re a great option for giving visitors and potential customers a good first impression of your company.

Enhance the Value of Your Property

The increased security and aesthetic appeal of well-designed and installed automatic gates will also add value to your property if you choose to sell it. What’s more, the greater security they offer can even help lower insurance premiums, so all in all, they’re a good investment that will pay off over time.

If you’re persuaded by these benefits, want to consider automatic gates for your property and live in Reading, Ascot, Maidenhead, Windsor, Berkshire or the surrounding counties, contact Site Services UK. With over 20 years in the business, we’re sure to be able to design and install enhanced security at your home or place of business. We also offer a full range of automatic gate repair services and additionally specialise in school gate installation. Call us for a free consultation today.