Abloy UK Secure the O2 Arena with Ballistic Doors

13 Apr 2018

Abloy UK has supplied the O2 Arena in London with Hillsborough BR4 ballistic doors. The aim was to enhance the security of the venue as well as offering protection to its occupants from specialised weapons or gunfire. 

The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in south east London. It has the second highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the UK and in 2015 the arena was the busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales, handling 1,819,487 tickets. This presents many concerns regarding health and safety especially when the world is challenged by mounting security threats. With the increase in gun crime and terrorist attacks in the UK, high capacity venues such as the O2 Arena must prepare for emerging threats. 
However, in 2017 the O2 Arena faced a problem. Their current interior doors were no longer fit for purpose due to the wear and damage caused from the constant flow of people entering the site. The main priority for the O2 Arena was to have doors which could ensure the safety of visitors and staff from fire or attacks. 

Abloy UK are experienced in meeting these challenges and know that security threats are not static and therefore provide flexible solutions to help their customers design systems to resolve their specific concerns. In the case of the O2 Arena, Abloy UK had a complete understanding of the security requirements from working on many critical national infrastructure projects across varied sectors. Abloy UK provided a full service with survey, supply, install and ensured the job was carried out with one main point of contact

At the survey stage it was agreed that to ensure the level of security needed and to provide a door which was fire rated, the most suitable door was the Hillsborough BR4 Ballistic Doors. These ballistic doorsets offer protection from 9mm handguns through to armour-piercing rounds and all testing is to European and British Standards BS EN 1522 and BS EN 1523. They were also fire certified and therefore compliant to the situation. Furthermore, Abloy UK were able to produce a bespoke colour, O2 blue, to guarantee the doorsets were aesthetically pleasing, matching the arena’s colour scheme. 

The outcome was to the O2 Arena’s exact specifi cations and provided the ideal solution. Abloy UK were in contact with Wren Construction Limited, the main contractors on site throughout the job and were able to adapt to any additional requests during the process. The interior doors of this iconic venue are now ready to face the emerging threats of today’s world as well as offering fi re protection for the arena’s occupants.