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Fire doors from five suppliers ‘fail to meet standards’
Fire doors from five different suppliers have now been identified as failing to meet safety standards, the government has revealed.
In a statement, released this afternoon, housing secretary James Brokenshire said this was evidence of “a broader issue across the fire door market”.
His predecessor Sajid Javid had previously told parliament in March: “There is no evidence that this is a systemic issue.”
Before today, the government had already announced that the fire doors used in Grenfell and made by the company Manse Masterdor had failed tests.
Masterdor, a company set up with its assets in 2014, announced earlier this month that its timber doors and glass reinforced plastic doors have also failed.
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Today, the government revealed that doors supplied by Permadoor, Solar Windows and Bowater by Birtley have also failed. The doors failed 30-minute fire resistance tests.
These doors, the government said, have all been withdrawn from the market and the government has informed local trading standards of its findings.
Mr Brokenshire said: “While the department’s investigations are on-going, I now have enough evidence to suggest that there is a broader issue across the fire door market. That is why I am calling on suppliers to meet this week and provide reassurance that they are gripping this issue properly.
“I want to see a clear plan of action to rectify existing problems and ensure such failures are not repeated in the future. While our expert panel assures me the risk remains low, I want to assure the public that the government is doing everything it can to ensure construction products are of the highest safety standards and accurately tested and marketed.”
At the meeting of fire door suppliers Mr Brokenshire mentioned, the government intends to agree with them a plan of action to tackle the failings.
The government is testing fire doors from 20 suppliers at the moment and Inside Housing has asked how many of these have had their products tested so far.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has written to all building control bodies to encourage them to follow existing building regulations guidance on fire doors.
Approved Document B – the official guidance on building regulations – requires fire doors to meet the ’FD30’ standard. This is tested by placing a door in a furnace for 30 minutes and measuring its resistance.
However, the government has previously ignored warnings from industry experts that systems of ’third party accreditation’ are needed to support these test results.
This involves independent assessment of the test certificates and regular audits to ensure standards are maintained.
At least three million doors in the UK are certified in this way, but it is not a mandatory requirement.
