An ongoing investigation by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, has revealed that fire doors from five suppliers have failed to meet fire performance standards. Products from six suppliers were tested.
The full report can be found here.
A further statement by the MHCLG reveals that the main issue surrounding the failures is that the doors have only previously been tested on one side, and that the test should expose both sides of the whole door set to fire. A circular letter from the MHCLG on the fire door tests, can be found here.
According to the MHCLG, all doors that are known to have failed to meet the necessary standards have been withdrawn from the market and the department has informed local trading standards of its findings.
A spokesperson from Bowater by Birtley, one of the suppliers whose doors failed the most recent tests, said: “Bowater by Birtley supply both solid and glazed fire doors as part of its extensive range of composite external door sets. The full range has been tested and approved by independent and recognised testing bodies to the current fire door industry standard.
“In the last few weeks, the government has challenged some of the assumptions made by the test houses in the UK. Bowater by Birtley, along with a number of other manufacturers, volunteered to have their doors tested based on those revised assumptions.
“Regrettably, our glazed door marginally failed along with the other manufacturers doors that were tested. As a consequence of this, the Association of Composite Door Manufacturers and its members, including Bowater by Birtley, has taken the lead and temporarily suspended the supply of all fire doors until a new, clear test standard is clarified and the consistency in test results could be guaranteed.
“Bowater by Birtley take safety very seriously and are wholly in support of this initiative and will continue to work with the government and testing bodies until the issue is resolved.
“The supply of all doors with the exclusion of fire doors will remain unaffected by this announcement.”
