Security Systems
Electric gate installation and gate automation in Kent
Swing and sliding gate automation for driveways, yards and commercial entrances across Kent, installed with the safety devices and force testing the law actually requires.
- Free estimates
- Insurance work undertaken
- Domestic & commercial
A powered gate is machinery, and the law treats it that way
This is the part most gate quotes never mention. A powered gate is not a gate with a motor on it, it is machinery in law, and it falls under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. That places duties on whoever installs it, and those duties are not satisfied by the gate simply opening and closing.
The relevant standards are BS EN 12453, which sets out how a powered gate must operate safely, and BS EN 12445, which sets out how that is tested. Between them they cover the crushing, shearing and impact risks that make automated gates genuinely dangerous when they are installed without protection. The force limits are specific: 400 newtons for crushing and 1400 newtons for impact. Those are measured with instruments, not judged by hand.
An installation should carry a risk assessment of the site before the work and a further assessment after it, because automating an existing gate changes what that gate can do to somebody standing next to it. If nobody has offered you either, that is worth asking about before the deposit rather than after.
What safe automation actually includes
Force limitation on its own is rarely enough, and on most domestic driveways a compliant installation is a combination of measures rather than a single device.
- Safety edges on the leading and closing edges, which stop the gate on contact
- Photocells across the opening, so the gate will not close on a vehicle or a person standing in it
- Force limitation in the control board, set and then measured rather than assumed
- Protection of the hinge and closing gaps, which is where crushing injuries actually happen
- Manual release, so the gate can be freed in a power cut or an emergency
- Warning signage and a handover, so whoever uses the gate knows what it will and will not do
Swing gates, sliding gates and which suits the site
Swing gates suit most residential driveways and are the more common installation in Kent, particularly on properties where the gate is part of the look of the house. They need room to open, and on a driveway that slopes away from the road that room is not always there.
Sliding gates need a run alongside the opening for the gate to travel into, but they do not care about slope in the same way and they suit narrow entrances and commercial yards where a swinging leaf would foul a vehicle waiting to turn in. On a tight site the choice is usually made for you by the ground rather than by preference.
On motors, underground kits keep the hardware out of sight, which matters on a period property or where the gate posts are part of the frontage. Ram and articulated arm motors sit above ground, cost less to install and are easier to get at when they need attention. There is no universally better answer, and anyone who gives you one without seeing the entrance is guessing.
Repairs, servicing and gates somebody else installed
Gate automation lives outdoors and is expected to work several times a day for years, so it needs attention. The failures we are called to most often are weather and wear rather than dramatic faults: water in a control box, a corroded ground loop, a failed capacitor, hinges that have dropped enough to bind the motor, and safety devices that have been disconnected because they were nuisance-tripping.
That last one is worth stating plainly. Disabling a photocell to stop it triggering does not fix the photocell, it removes the thing protecting whoever is standing in the gateway, and it takes a compliant installation out of compliance. If a gate has been left in that state we will say so, and what it needs to be right, rather than quietly working around it.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Can you automate gates we already have?
Often yes, and it depends on the gates rather than the motor. The frame has to be square and rigid enough to take the loading, the hinges and posts have to be sound, and there has to be somewhere sensible to get power to. Timber gates that have dropped or twisted are the usual reason we advise against it, because automating a gate that already binds puts the strain into the motor and you will be back to it. We will tell you which case yours is after looking at it.
What happens in a power cut?
Every installation includes a manual release so the gate can be freed and moved by hand, and part of the handover is showing you where it is and how to use it. Battery backup is available and is worth considering on a gate that is the only vehicle access to a property. What you should not accept is a gate with no accessible release, because that is how people end up trapped on the wrong side of their own driveway.
Are safety photocells and edges a legal requirement?
The legal requirement is that the installation is safe and that risks are assessed and reduced, under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. BS EN 12453 is the recognised way of demonstrating that, and in practice meeting it on a typical driveway gate means photocells and safety edges alongside force limitation. So while no single device is named in law, an installation without them is very unlikely to be defensible.
How much does gate automation cost?
It depends on whether the gates exist already, whether they are swing or sliding, how far the power has to come, and which motor the entrance suits. Groundwork is usually the variable that moves the number most, because getting a supply and control cabling across a driveway is a bigger job than the motor itself. We survey and then quote, and the estimate is free.
Do you service gates you did not install?
Yes, and it is a good part of what we do on the gate side. Older installations from installers who have since disappeared are common. We will service what is there where the hardware is sound, and where a system has had its safety devices bypassed or was never compliant, we will tell you that and what putting it right involves rather than servicing around it.
Free estimates
Want a free estimate in Kent?
No up-selling, just simple honest advice. Domestic and commercial work across Aylesford, Maidstone, Medway, Sittingbourne, Gravesend, Canterbury, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Dartford, Bromley.