The lock manufacturer Pickersgill-Kaye Ltd has installed locks at six separate custodial facilities as part of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme for the new Two Counties Police Investigation Centres (PICs) in Norfolk and Suffolk.
The new Two Counties PICs, built at Wymondham, Aylsham, Great Yarmouth, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and King’s Lynn at a capital cost of about £60m, are said to have some of the most modern security facilities anywhere in the UK and can hold police officers, investigators and staff, besides suspects detained in custody for questioning.
Leeds-based Pickersgill-Kaye were awarded the contract by project contractor Kier Group (part of the Justice Support Services consortium), to fit 146 cell and 232 pass locks on secure doors (made by Cell Security Ltd) at the detention units after the products were specified by the centres’ FM providers, Reliance Secure Task Management (RSTM), now known as TASCOR, the custody facilities division of Capita. and detention across the UK.
Kier Contracts Manager, Nick Wright, said: “RSTM spoke very highly of Pickersgill-Kaye’s locks on the Two Counties project, and advised that the door supplier had installed them as RSTM preferred locks. The installation went very well and everyone is happy.”
Like all Pickersgill-Kaye’s custodial locks, the Kaye Class 1 Cell Lock and Class 2 Pass Lock are designed to meet the strict requirements needed for safer prison cells and police custody suites and include a servant and master key management regime for efficiency and security.
Designed and made entirely in the UK, both locks have undergone testing on key operation, lock construction and overall durability and resistance to attack, to satisfy the operational requirements of the custodial industry.
The Class 1 Cell Lock is made from a single billet of solid steel. Pickersgill-Kaye add that the pass locks are heavy duty locks with double-sided key operation. The mortise-type lock can be installed according to the makers in any security door (steel or wood) and features a solid steel main bolt fitted with two hardened roller inserts, a sacrificial brass escutcheon and a steel key cut to code.
Pickersgill-Kaye’s business development manager for security and engineering products, John Moore, added: “TASCOR and the UK Home Office were familiar with our locks from having installed them at the Cleveland Police headquarters in Middlesbrough. We are delighted that this contract further endorses the quality and long-term value of our locks.”
Pickersgill-Kaye adds that its locks are attracting orders from overseas law enforcement agencies, including from Malaysia and more recently the Middle East.
