The UK Fencing Awards 2023 is gaining momentum and with so many excellent entries coming in we’ll be taking you through who our sponsors are this year. We’ve got nine excellent companies committing support to the fencing industry and the skilled contractors we have.

Contractor of the Year: Gates and barriers – DHF

Door & Hardware Federation (DHF) is delighted to be sponsoring the Gates and Barriers award category at the 2023 Association of Fencing Industries’ (AFI) UK Fencing Award and is looking forward to recognising and celebrating the important work of the fencing sector.

There is a close synergy between AFI and DHF, with both organisations aiming to raise standards in the industries they represent. DHF has sponsored the Gates and Barriers category because many fencing contractors often get asked to turn manual gates into automated ones and, likewise, those working on highways may be required to install a traffic barrier.

For entries to the Gates and Barriers category, DHF would like to know if the gate/barrier project involved any unique or challenging elements and to understand how these were overcome. DHF would also be very interested in seeing details of any testing that was conducted to confirm the newly installed gate/barrier was safe and compliant.

Door & Hardware Federation (DHF) is the only unified trade body representing the interests of companies associated with Locks & Building Hardware; Doorsets; Industrial Doors & Shutters; Domestic Garage Doors and Automated Gates & Barriers.

As a federation, it supports over 500 members in the various industry sectors by representing them on BSI standards committees, liaising with compliance authorities such as the Health and Safety Executive and Trading Standards as well as fire safety organisations across the UK and Europe.

DHF’s main aim is to raise standards in the industries it represents and by doing so, reassure end-users that they are using products and services of the highest quality that conform with the latest legislation, safety and technical specifications.

Due to its dedication for maintaining and raising quality standards, DHF has become the industry’s ‘go to expert’ on training and technical advice.

Through its commitment to educating the market, DHF has created a comprehensive training and CPD programme that benefit the industry. It is an accredited assessment centre for the Awarding Body in the Built Environment (ABBE) providing formal qualifications, forms part of an NOCN assessment centre for the industry specific NVQ and offers a wide range of fire and non-fire doorset courses in collaboration with BRE.

DHF Awards judge will be Steve Hill, Senior Training & Compliance Officer.

Steve joined DHF in 2019 as Senior Training & Compliance Officer. He holds a Level 3 award in Education & Training and the main duties of his role are delivering training for DHF and BRE, developing new courses to benefit the industry and providing technical support for members and non-members.

Steve has 35 years’ worth of experience in various industries and includes 20 years’ in the automated gate industry, where he held a number of positions from manufacture through to installation, repair and maintenance. This knowledge and experience in the gate industry makes him the ideal individual to be judging the entries for the Gates and Barriers category.