smith design solutions

Privacy policy

How we use your information

Smith Design Solutions Limited is a private limited company registered in Scotland number SC146050 at 40A Portland Place, Hamilton, ML3 7JU.

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when Smith Design Solutions Ltd collects personal information. This privacy notice covers information we collect and store in a variety of ways:

  • Visitors to our website
  • Use of cookies
  • Security and performance
  • Web Hosting
  • People who contact us via social media
  • People who email us
  • E-communications
  • Client information we hold
  • Complaints or queries
  • Access to personal information
  • Disclosure of personal information
  • Links to other websites

Visitors to our website

When someone visits www.smithds.co.uk we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Use of cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Security and performance

We handle all our website maintenance and security in-house. We have third party security services installed to help maintain the security and performance of the Smith Design Solutions Ltd website. To deliver this service it processes the IP addresses of visitors to the Smith Design Solutions Ltd website.

Web Hosting

This website is hosted by ionos within their European based data centres. 1&1 have seven state-of-the-art secure data centres, which are ranked as some of the safest and most efficient data centres in Europe. The data centres have steel-reinforced walls and fully air-conditioned rooms which provide safety from gas, water, and fire. The data centres are protected by 24hr surveillance by highly qualified specialists and have an interruption-free power supply due to emergency generators and batteries. The 1&1 data centres are configured with multiple redundant connections to prohibit data transfer delays. That enables fast connections and nearly 100% uptime.

All website traffic (transferral of data) between you and this website is secured via SSL Certificate (Secure Socket Layer). An SSL certificate is a communications protocol that provides a layer of confidentiality and security, so the data transmitted over the internet between your computer and the destination server is secure. It is indicated by the lock icon and the “https” prefix in the web browser address bar.

People who contact us via social media

If you send us a private or direct message via social media the message will be stored by Facebook for three months. It will not be shared with any other organisations.

People who email us

Any email sent to Smith Design Solutions Ltd, including any attachments, may be monitored and used by us for reasons of security and for monitoring compliance with office policy. Email monitoring or blocking software may also be used. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to us is within the bounds of the law. Smith Design Solutions Ltd email is provided by ionos.

E-communications

We do not currently provide any e-newsletters and as such any emails sent from us will be regarding new, or existing projects. We do not send generic marketing emails directly to clients at this time.

Client information we hold

We have to hold the details of the people who contract us to work for them in providing our services. We only use contact information to provide our services as agreed by our clients. In addition to client information, we collect contact information for individuals who have asked us to send details of the services we provide or who may be interested in our services as they are involved in similar projects. When people receive information, they can choose to unsubscribe from our database at any time and are given an easy way of doing this.

We request all clients to send mailing lists directly to our main contractor or mailing house directly. Any client databases sent to us in error will be deleted on receipt and the client will be informed by email.

Complaints or queries

Smith Design Solutions Ltd tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of Smith Design Solutions Ltd’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.

Access to personal information

Smith Design Solutions Ltd will try to be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998. If we do hold information about you we will:

  • give you a description of it;
  • tell you why we are holding it;
  • tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
  • let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

To make a request to Smith Design Solutions Ltd for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing addressing it to our Managing Director at the address provided below.

If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone. If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes by contacting us in writing.

Disclosure of personal information

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personal information. Where we are required to share personal data with third parties who assist us in delivering our services, we will seek your consent and seek to ensure that those parties keep the information confidential. In most circumstances we will not disclose personal data without consent. We will only do so in circumstances where we are required to share information to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others’ rights, property or safety.

Links to other websites

This privacy notice does not cover any links to other websites which may appear within this site. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.

Changes to this privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 15 December 2020.

How to contact us

If you want to request information about our privacy policy you can email our GDPR Officer, Gordon Smith at gordon@smithds.co.uk or write to:
Gordon Smith, Managing Director, Smith Design Solutions, Hamilton Business Centre, 194 Quarry Street, Hamilton ML3 6QR