Customer case

Security box: A private security box hire company constructs its office with ballistic steel from SSAB

June 08, 2022 6 min read

Case details

Product Ramor® 500

Country Brazil

Company Sekuro

Industry Protection and security

An architectural project by Sekuro, the only Brazilian company specializing in the private rental of security deposit boxes, incorporates the latest in terms of protection, including Ramor 500 panels, and ballistic steel with guaranteed quality properties.

This year alone, burglaries increased by 70% in Rio de Janeiro, according to data from the Public Security Agency. The situation is no different in Sāo Paulo either: According to the National Secretariat of Public Security, in 2016 one home in the capital was burgled every hour and last year 1 in 4 people were robbed or burgled. In this context, storing valuables indoors now poses a risk, either due to insecurity or flooding and possible fires. A solution to this problem would be to rent a safe - offered by banks, which have gradually discontinued their service over the past 18 years.

Sekuro, the only private security box rental company in Brazil, was established to fill the gap in relation to this problem, offering confidentiality, privacy and security to customers wishing to store objects of financial and sentimental value and to protect them against theft, robbery, fire, explosion and flooding risks. It began operations in 2018 in Sāo Paulo, and to build its operation it used state-of-the-art safety and security solutions for the site, including Ramor 500 high-strength steel panels from SSAB, Sweden’s world-leading multinational manufacturer of high-strength steel. Sekuro is located in the Berrini region (SP), one of the city's premier business and commerce hubs.

The site is a kind of “bunker in the heights,” a labyrinth formed by reinforced concrete walls and armored panels, which are SSAB Ramor 500 sheets, as well as strict access control based on modern technology, physical and technological barriers and (national and international) 24-hour monitoring.

Sekuro has a Lloyd’s of London insurance policy, the world’s largest reinsurance company, worth more than R$ 250 million, with All Risks coverage. This amounts to R$ 500,000.00 insurance for each security box, expandable to R$ 2 million coverage per box.

Case details

Product Ramor® 500

Country Brazil

Company Sekuro

Industry Protection and security

SSAB steel is synonymous with quality and safety.

Sekuro’s Managing Director says SSAB’s steel met the expectations of the facility’s architectural design. “We are the first company in the world to use this type of technology,” he says, highlighting the safety and security benefits of the business and site. “The steel company has the best product on the market and prices are competitive,” he says. “We want to use SSAB steel in all our future facilities,” says Sekuro’s Chief Operating Officer.

“SSAB Ramor steel is already widely used in vehicle and architectural protection applications, but this is the first time we have worked with an application such as that for Sekuro,”

says Lucas de Noronha, Key Account Manager, Sales Protection Americas.

“Because they have a very specific need where the quality of raw materials is of fundamental importance, SSAB has become a key partner to meet the customer’s need,” he says.

According to Noronha, it was important for Sekuro to have a material with ballistic guarantees that could be processed without much difficulty and that provided a solution with minimum weight. “Since the operation is located in a building, it was very important that the solution had the lowest possible weight without compromising its ballistic and anti-burglary guarantee. Ramor meets this requirement because its high level of hardness allows the use of thinner plate compared to the most common steel found on the market. One of the great advantages of using SSAB steels is the ballistic certification that ensures that the product will withstand the given ammunition and/or threat. “We can recommend which certified steel to use for each type of ammunition. The steel also has a high surface quality, making it easy to process, use and finish,” says Lucas at SSAB.

Safety and security is a major concern for Brazilians.

The project took four years to develop, and included research into the business, market studies, and travel abroad to learn about different experiences with this type of operation. In Argentina, they followed the implementation of a company outside the banking sector - private companies are also emerging in the sector, offering this type of service there. “The city of Buenos Aires has 400,000 security boxes for 3.5 million inhabitants. In Sāo Paulo, there are 12 million inhabitants for zero security boxes. It is worth noting that this service works in more than 100 countries, including Uruguay and Mexico, with the latter considered to be the market that comes closest to Sekuro’s business, due to the violence there. “We have data that shows that safety and security is Brazil’s second biggest concern. We are a new key player in the market and want to build credibility and offer a service that many need,” says the operations manager.

Increasing insecurity in the country has driven the use and production of personal and property security products, as well as the emergence of the need for protected private and public buildings, most of which can be constructed using Ramor steel as a cladding or even as a structure. “The security market has grown a lot for SSAB. An increasing number of customers are looking for steel options that ensure ballistic resilience for their products and which meet all the requirements of the Brazilian army, whether they are cars, guard rooms, panic rooms, bunkers or safes,” says Lucas de Noronha.

The project has relied on financial contributions from foreign investors to develop maximum security, with international premises, unlike in Brazil. The expansion plan envisages an investment of R$ 200 million over the next five years and will reach cities such as Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Salvador, and bring a solution for Brazilians to store and protect their belongings of financial or sentimental value. The unit has hundreds of customers, including individuals and legal entities. Various security box sizes are available, with values starting from R$ 450 per month.