The number of students requiring accommodation in the UK is predicted to increase by almost 39% by 2026, compared to 2021. With a significant shortage in the supply of purpose-built student accommodation and houses in multiple occupancy, many undergraduates are unable to compromise on the quality of their living arrangements – including the level of security.
Against a challenging economic backdrop, students – who are typically loaded up with all the latest tech, experiencing their first time away from home and moving into unfamiliar surroundings – remain a prime target for burglars. The proliferation of social media usage also means students may be inadvertently advertising their whereabouts and belongings to potential thieves, putting them at a high level of risk.
This places new pressure on universities and accommodation providers to not just increase capacity, but also ensure the infrastructure maintains safe and secure standards.
Security concerns
Research indicates that students are nearly three times more likely to experience a burglary than the average person. This was echoed in a recent study by JELD-WEN UK, which found that, in the past 12 months, 36% of students have experienced, or know someone who has experienced, a break into their student housing. Yet, 90% of the 1,000 respondents still reported feeling safe where they live – highlighting a clear disconnect between perceived and actual security risks.
PBSAs present unique access challenges, with a high turnover of occupants and hundreds of residents moving between private and common spaces at all hours of the day. This can result in a compromise to security, such as communal doors being left open, or non-residents being let inside the property without proper authorisation.
When asked about security issues where they live, our research found that 52% of students believed their parents would be concerned. However, 42% still admitted to leaving their communal entrance door unlocked overnight or during the day, despite a fifth feeling that the door to their individual room did not offer adequate security against unauthorised access.
Understanding risk
There are, of course, a number of challenges when it comes to improving standards. Cost considerations can lead to the procurement of cheaper, lower-quality products, while improper installation and poor maintenance can go on to impact their performance.
High levels of traffic mean that doors throughout the building are subject to heavy wear and tear, further compromising the quality of the product if not properly repaired. Meanwhile, a relaxed attitude to security among students, particularly during social gatherings, can lead to entrance doors being propped open or damaged.
While recent years have seen increasing uptake for high-tech security solutions, such as CCTV and video doorbells, internal doors remain largely overlooked as a worthwhile investment when retrofitting student properties. However, these can help to improve the level of security within individual dwellings.
A high-quality room entrance doorset will arrive to site pre-assembled with compatible components and hardware, from a controlled factory setting. Not only does this ensure each element of the door is performing as intended, but it requires less dependency on joiner expertise, offering more reliability, reducing installation errors and minimising future maintenance demands.
This ultimately offers better peace of mind for students that their possessions will be protected, and provides property managers with the confidence that the door itself will withstand the test of time.
In addition, smart lock integration has the potential to elevate security standards even further, allowing students to lock and unlock their doors using smartphones, keypads or key fobs, eliminating the risk of lost or copied physical keys. Estate managers can also track access more effectively, immediately revoking access permissions if needed.
Setting higher standards
While there is no single solution to burglary risk in student accommodation, there are clear opportunities to improve standards across the sector.
For example, the Fire Safety Act 2021 now mandates regular inspections to monitor fire door performance in multi-occupancy properties, and security checks could also be incorporated into these routine assessments. Fire door inspections must ensure that repairs are made promptly when issues are identified, and by extending these checks to include the performance of security features – such as locks, hinges and frames – property managers can ensure multiple safety standards are upheld.
Following extensive research into security challenges, JELD-WEN has proposed several recommendations in a recently published whitepaper:
1. The introduction of new regulation, which establishes minimum security standards that all student accommodations must meet - regardless of location or ownership. This level of standardisation would provide greater clarity for accommodation providers about their responsibilities and enable students to better understand their rights.
2. A legal requirement for all doorset installations and maintenance work to be completed by a qualified installer, validated through a UKAS-accredited certification scheme. This would ensure each doorset is installed correctly and able to perform as intended.
3. The introduction of an initiative among universities to improve awareness among students, including an education campaign around door security, locking protocols and general best practices.
Building better
As we look ahead, there is no doubt that the student housing sector will continue to undergo significant change as it rises to the challenge of evolving demographics, economic pressures, new regulation and shifting student expectations.
Along with this transition, there is an opportunity for universities and student housing providers to re-evaluate and redefine their security approach to address emerging threats and growing student fears. Better doorset specification should come under sharper focus as part of this, offering a significant opportunity to enhance protection for residents and provide them with better peace of mind.
Security is a critical component of student housing directly impacting not only a student’s safety and wellbeing, but their academic success too. For forward-thinking student housing providers seeking to maintain a first-class reputation, it’s important that their standards make, if not exceed, the grade.
JELD-WEN’s recently published whitepaper: “New lessons in keeping students safer” explores these themes in greater detail and is available to download here
