Compliance and testing: a focus on the Rutland RLP Letterplate

Letterboxes are ubiquitous on front entrance doors across the UK and EU, and the fact that they penetrate through the entrance door or fire door makes it essential to get right from a testing and compliance point of view. Their very purpose requires them to be easily accessible, so it is imperative they are secured against common security risks.

The Building Regulations Approved Doc Q (Security in Dwellings) states explicitly that TS008-compliant letter plates are suitable for secure doorsets.

If you are choosing a letterplate to use in bulk doorset production or building maintenance procurement, speed and cost of fitting will be important too.  Simplicity of installation also aids accurate fitting every time, ensuring compliance with the approved design.

Not every external entrance door needs to be fire-rated, so side-through letter plate assemblies are available as either non-fire rated, or supplied with an Intumescent kit. Both options are available in the Rutland RLP, and both are designed for quick, accurate fitting.

Despite the higher unit cost, there is a strong case for using fire-rated letterplates as standard for those manufacturing both fire-rated and non-fire-rated doors.  It can bring many efficiencies in production costs, inventory management, clarity around information sharing, and of course, help improve fire safety beyond the ‘strictly necessary’.

Would choosing a slide-through letter plate, check the assembly kit is compatible with your door leaf thickness, and that the model is approved for your door material (i.e. composite or timber).

Matching hardware not only gives the doors a cohesive and coordinated look in communal corridors, but also makes it easier for responsible persons (RPs) to spot missing, damaged, or replaced components that warrant further inspection.

To meet these needs, the Rutland RLP letter plate is:

• TS008 Security rated (Enhanced) as standard
• Available as a dual security and FD30 fire-resistant letter plate (when installed with the Rutland RLP.IP intumescent seal kit in an FD30 tested door)
• Quick and accurate fitting through a single CNC pass, router or jigsaw aperture (cutting template supplied with kit).
• Successfully tested with PAS 24 doorset.
• Third-party certificated to Kitemark TS008.
• Meets all relevant standards for timber and composite doors (not PVC-u)
• Fits door thicknesses 44mm – 54mm
• Weather tested in BS6375-1 doorset
• Part of the Frontier range of entrance door hardware – a fully compliant suite of matching hardware finishes. The finishes include satin nickel, polished nickel, polished brass, white, and silver.

The SBD mark is a police initiative that is widely recognised by insurance companies, consumers, and councils. The scheme encourages security and safety throughout the built environment and since 2017 its holistic approach has increasingly widened the scope into fire safety aspects, alongside security.

Securing SBD approval gives door manufacturers a way to demonstrate their value and quality, and the journey is something Rutland are often called to support on. Using SBD approved hardware puts doorset manufacturers well on the way towards achieving SBD approval on their assemblies. If you are designing new doorsets, ask about our helpful resources.

The SBD mark shows that a security hardware product’s PAS 24 and TS008 compliance has been verified by an independent, qualified assessor.

Alfie Hosker, technical manager at Secured By Design told the Door Industry Journal that “Rutland [were] one of the first companies to supersede the withdrawn standard DHF TS008:2015 and ensure their letter plate meets the latest enhanced security requirements in industry in regards their letter plate to be UKAS 3rd party tested and certified to DHF TS008:2008:2022.”*