If you go down to the woods today...
8th September 2008
As part of a 16 acre redevelopment of ancient woodlands near Maidstone, 
The Woodland Trust needed to address accessibility issues as well as security for an adjacent private home owner. The project, supported entirely by volunteers and lottery funding, has restored a large area of woodland and made it a picturesque haven for the people of the surrounding area. The area is now fully accessible to all with gentle paths and special gates allowing wheelchair, pushchair and disabled buggy access throughout the woodland area.
Security Objectives
Situated in the Bearsted Woodland Trust area is a privately owned cottage that blends in perfectly with the new paths and public areas but also the owners needed to retain their privacy. In order to achieve this and not impact on the owners’ access to their home, it was decided by the committee to install an electrically powered 5-bar entrance gate to demark the drive from the A20 entrance. The big problem was that the entrance was at least 300m from any source of mains power.
The Green Gate Company, working with the Bearsted Woodland Trust, installed a solar and wind powered automated gate to the new entrance that meets the Trust’s and cottage owners’ security requirements. So as not to inconvenience visitors to the cottage, the gate operates by entry and exit buttons providing a visual security barrier during the day time. Fitted with an infra red safety beam the gate automatically closes itself, unless of course any vehicles or people remain in its way. At night time however, it remains securely locked and opens only for users with either a radio key fob or with the access key codes.
Environmentally Friendly
Powered entirely by solar and wind power, the new automated security gate is the first of its kind in a public setting anywhere in the United Kingdom. The Bearsted Woodland Trust has a strong environmental awareness and the development is about returning the area to its former natural beauty. The new green powered security gate was the perfect solution for the Trust as it eliminated the need and cost of digging up hundreds of metres of pasture and public paths to install mains power. The new security gate has no further running costs, with the solar panels guaranteed for 25 years.
Simple, Safe and Green
“This has been a rewarding nature development for the people of Bearsted and surrounding area ensuring they have protected countryside on their doorstep” Stated David Johnson BWT Project Manager.
“We also needed to ensure that the home owners on the site were not inconvenienced and the automated gate ensures they retain their privacy. Not only is the new solar powered gate helping us to do our bit for the environment, it was cost effective by eliminating the need, cost and disruption of installing a long power cable.”
Rated to operate on the shortest day of the year, the security gate features a high level of built-in safety, ensuring reliable and care-free operation everytime, all year round. Ready to fit with a range of access control accessories (such as intercoms, swipe-card readers, auto exit loops, infra-red safety beams etc), each installation can be fully customised to suit even the most demanding needs.
“It was really rewarding to work with the Bearsted Woodland Trust on this project and provide one of the first dual powered systems fitted in the UK. By using wind turbines alongside solar power, the automated gate systems can use wind energy during the night time which is especially helpful during our short winter days. It means we can save costs by providing smaller solar panels while still powering the gate hundreds of times a day“, explains Neil Sampson, Managing Director, Solar Gates UK Ltd.
“We are proud to offer a range of security solutions including automated gates and car park barriers powered by renewable resources to make homes, schools and public buildings safer, greener and more convenient”.
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