fire doors

Since Grenfell, fire safety in social housing has been in the spotlight. The standard of existing fire safety has been scrutinised and reviewed, with terms such as stay-put policy, EWS1 forms, The Hackitt Report, and ACM cladding all becoming household topics of discussion. Billions of pounds are being spent on Type 4 Fire Risk Assessments (FRA), cladding removal, door replacement programmes and waking watch. Housing groups are now putting more and more pressure on manufacturers and contractors to provide them with the assurance of compliance, with BIM and the Golden Thread becoming the expectation rather than the exception.

Simplicity in design is often thought to be the secret to creating timeless fashions and one way to achieve that desired blank canvas, is by using flush white doors.  This opportunity to rejuvenate and add a fresh clean look to interiors has now been given new impetus and inspiration with the introduction of the White Collection from Vicaima, a selection of quality interior doors for home, hospitality and commercial projects.

With the age of residents at Hanover Lodge, access was becoming problematic due to the heavy self-closing fire doors. Fireco products were recommended and Freedor SmartSound was found to be the best-suited product. 

We are pleased to announce that we have been working with fire door manufacturers in order to gain Primary Test Certification on a range of Fireco products.

Fire safety has been at the forefront of discussion in social housing circles, with much of the focus being on the compartmentation of a building.

British designed and manufactured, Powermatic controlled, concealed door closers designed for increased tenant safety are growing in popularity for use on fire doors in high-rise flats, apartments and HMOs.

After months of speculation, new testing and meetings between industry and MHCLG, leading social housing fenestration partner Nationwide Windows Ltd is delighted to be one of the first suppliers back to the market with their next generation, GRP fire door solution.  

John Whalley, MD of Nationwide comments: “It has been a difficult time for many involved in the fire door supply chain, not least because the country has witnessed what can happen when things go wrong.  So, it has taken time, clever product design and testing at levels never previously seen to get us to a position where we can announce that, in partnership with FDS (Fire Door Systems), we are introducing the next generation Nationwide GRP fire door.

Compartmentation is a way to keep a fire contained in one place, preventing fire and smoke from spreading quickly and taking over the building. By creating these fire-resistant compartments, fire can be suppressed for around 30 minutes (time can vary depending on the building structure).

There are different elements to creating a fire safe compartment and there are many things that can reduce the effectiveness.