Air Products commenced trade in the 1940’s by designing and building oxygen generators to feed the growing requirements of steel making and chemical manufacture. Over sixty years on, Air Products gases and technologies are used in a range of solutions across many industries.
Over the last few years, Air Products have conducted an extensive security refurbishment project designed to improve site access management and enhance the safety of personnel on all their sites. Part of these refurbishments included the requirement for a vehicle access gate and pedestrian access control system, which has been successfully provided by Frontier-Pitts Ltd.
Frontier-Pitts, the UK’s leading manufacturer of gates, barriers & road blockers, designed and installed their LoTracker Cantilevered Sliding gate that fulfilled Air Products exact requirements on many of their sites nationwide, including their site in Crewe. The LoTracker is the most robust model from the company’s extensive range of sliding gates, offering complete control over vehicle access to vulnerable areas, thereby providing the ideal perimeter security solution.
Designed for continuous use, the LoTracker is available for apertures of up to 15 metres wide and will withstand impact from the most determined vehicle attack. The LoTracker’s solid, fully welded steel frame with bar infill, back by square galvanized weldmesh offers obvious benefits over the less robust aluminums construction of inferior gates. Furthermore, an integral drive unit avoids the problems inherent with the older rack-and-pinion approach still utilized by dated products.
Frontier Pitts industry-leading paint finishing process provides 20 years of protection to BS5493 (Code of practice for protective coating of iron and steel structures against corrosion). Gate top protection of rotating steel tube complete with strips of serrated edge at the top of the gate leaf to prevent climbing.
All Frontier-Pitts designs incorporate safety features to international standards. The LoTracker, for instance, includes safety edges on leading edges, safety photocells and vehicle detector loops, anti-tamper control panels and full earth-bonding of all parts –elements that are not provided as standard by most manufacturers. Other accessory options include pedestrian guard rails at a choice of heights, flashing beacons and audible alarms.
The Frontier-Pitts family of sliding gates ranges from simple, manually operated units that are suitable for infrequent use, through to fully automated systems designed for continuous operation.
The cantilevered version of sliding gate ensures that there is no need for a track or support across that roadway. Instead, a main bottom beam that slides above the road surface supports the gate leaf. Balance is provided by a unique enclosed runback track, which enables that gate to be fully projected across the roadway without tipping. In some instances a skirt can be manufactured on the bottom edge of the gate leaf to level the gate when installed on a slope.
For pedestrian access on their Crewe site, Air Products opted for Frontier Pitts most popular model of Turnstile; the FPT1 full height, which can be delivered to site fully assembled or flat packed. With the choice of 90 degree rotors (4 sections) or 120 degree rotors (3 sections) and a range of accessories available such as steel or GPR lid and lighting, the turnstile unit can be manufactured to suit individual site requirements. A manual Wicket pedestrian gate was installed adjacent to the Turnstile to ensure the site complied with The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995.
The LoTracker Sliding Gate, the full height Turnstile and Pedestrian Wicket Gate, like all Frontier Pitts products are all designed, built and CE marked in the UK to the most stringent international standards. It is easy to see why Reliance High Tech, who designed and managed the installation of the integrated electronic and physical security systems on the Air Products sites, recommended Frontier Pitts to their customer.
