As one of the leading fire door installation companies, Fire Door Experts are very proud to be involved in this project.

Renowned for the quality of our fire door installation work, we were engaged to carry out this complex project to supply and install the fire door-sets and bespoke ironmongery for BOSS Design in Clerkenwell.

Our team worked closely with the main contractor, AQ CSL, and the architect, Ed Yuen, to confirm designs, specifications and ironmongery. Even when coming late to the party, Fire Door Experts were able to deliver this project to budget and in time for the opening of the studio.

Ironmongery:

• Concealed hinges in brass from SOSS. These invisible hinges give a sleek, stylish finish to any door, with performance to match.
• PVD (physical vapour deposition) brass kick plates and full height push plates, with a high quality lacquered finish.  These had to be procured in Germany due to their 2.5m lengths.
• Brass handles were mounted onto the full height push plates
• 600mm brass pull handles were used to complete the design aesthetic
• Fire rated Perko door closers provide the required self-closing mechanism, but continue the sleek door design

Fire Doors

• The doors were procured from one of our fire door manufacturing partners, Humphrey and Stretton.
• To give a high quality finish, the doors were factory spray painted in RAL 9016
• Shadow trim detail was used in lieu of architraves

Another fix-only project in conjunction with SDS.

December saw the FDE team prove themselves as one of the leading fire door installation companies with our 5th project undertaken for SDS (Specialist Door Solutions) in 2020.

As preferred installers for SDS, Fire Door Experts were presented to the Main Contractors for an Essex hospital refurbishment.

Scope of Work

The project included the installation of 80 fire rated door-sets, which were a mix of FD30s and FD60s fire ratings and single, double and leaf and a half door configurations.

All doors feature wood veneer facings with blue door edge protection; ironmongery varied depending on the doors’ final intended use and location within the building.

Even when engaged on a fix-only basis, the FDE team check every detail on the door production schedule. Proposed door leaf sizes need to be confirmed, as do door swing actions and handings to ensure each door-set is correct to be installed with minimum fuss once on site and to allow the project to run as smoothly as possible.

Once work commenced, Fire Door Experts maintained a consistent onsite Project Leader, to offer all parties involved a single go-to point of contact to streamline all communications.

Progress of Work

Hospitals are busy buildings, and even when the wards are being refurbished, there are patients waiting for the beds! Team FDE worked with the Main Contractors to ensure the right part of each ward was handed over on time to receive the incoming patients.

Progress was reported back to the Main Contractor on a regular basis, with installation photographs of each door-set supplied via shared Dropbox folders per door-set.

Having handed over the first floor, which allows patients to occupy the wards and much needed beds, our team have now commenced work on the next phase of the project on ground floor.

If you’re unsure which of the many fire door installation companies to engage on your next project, why not give us a call and discuss? We’d be very happy to hear from you!

Protecting future building users as part of a high end and complex office refurbishment.

Fire Door Experts have secured our first major fire door contract to supply and fit anti-microbial ironmongery as part of a timber door package for 135 fire door-sets, comprising a mix of non-fire rated, FD30s and FD60s door-sets supplied by specialist door manufacturer, Humphrey & Stretton Plc.

Standard ironmongery was included in the original specification, but after initial early discussions regarding how we could offer anti-microbial coating to all ironmongery on the doors we procure and supply, our Managing Director, Simon West, and Studio RHE, the architect behind the designs, along with Graham, the main contractor, saw this high profile refurb project as an ideal opportunity to add this extra layer of protection for the buildings’ future users.

“Given the current global situation with this horrendous pandemic, now more than ever architects, designers, main contractors and installers should be putting the safety of the end users of the buildings as utmost priority.  And this does not just mean design and fire compartmentation safety, but also the safety of buildings users and occupiers moving in and around buildings once they are completed and handed over.   Everything on a door that can be pushed or pulled really now should have an anti-microbial coating applied at procurement stage, which is simply wiped cleaned as normal ironmongery would be”.

Simon further commented that “The relative small percentage increase in procurement costs is negligible considering the benefit received with the knowledge that the anti-microbial coating lasts for the lifetime of the product it’s applied to, offering long term protection for all users of the property each time they move around the building and use a door”.

Fire Door Experts have recently partnered with specialist ironmongery suppliers Poole Waite and Co Ltd who have been working on an antimicrobial that features BioCote^® technology. Liz Bilton of Poole & Waite commented “We’ve worked closely with BioCote^® and are very excited to be able to offer ironmongery that protects against the transfer of a huge range of microbes and has been proven to reduce the number of bacteria on a protected product by as much as 86% in just 15 minutes, and 99.5% in just 2 hours”.

Fire Door Experts prove again they’re on point and have the best interests of all involved at heart, from the original design team through to the building’s end users.

If you’re involved in an upcoming refurbishment project, why not speak to our team to find out more about this exciting ironmongery offering. It’s also worth remembering that existing ironmongery can be treated with BioCote^® through Poole Waite and Co Ltd Swap Out service making it perfect for any refurb or maintenance project.

Carpentry and joinery package underway with 120 fire doors to be fitted in the New Year.

Our parent company, BW Consultants Ltd have commenced work on a major project at Gramophone Works on behalf of Grahams. This includes carpentry and joinery work to install a number of timber upstands and roof access hatches as well as refitting the Reception area and Cafe Roof Terraces over the new few months.

Once the building renovations are complete, the Fire Door Experts arm of the company will beginning installing 120 fire doors. Doors have been procured from Integrated Doorset Solutions Limited with ironmongery from AllGood.

This project is not only a major work contract, but also a perfect example of the wide ranging skillsets of the BWC and FED operatives.

Watch how quickly fire can engulf a room!

Working with our clients, not just for our clients…

It’s vital, when working on projects, that all parties concerned work for the betterment of the project, especially when a variety of suppliers are involved and an ever-increasing scope of work.

Fire Door Experts were originally engaged by Hanevo back in December 2018 to carry out the installation of 250+ fire doors on a fix only basis. Due to the quality and timeliness of our work, the clear communication channels and our professional project management, we have developed an excellent relationship with Hanevo which has led to further works being awarded for fire door maintenance work and the supply and installation of a number of fire doors, including;

Maintenance Work

Essential maintenance is now completed on 76 existing bedroom doors to the nurses home at Whittington Hospital where doors were maintained back to their originally intended fire rating. Work included resizing the doors by the addition of hardwood lippings to achieve correct door margins, the addition of batwing seals to add smoke control, the replacement of existing hinges with fire rated hinges, new overhead door closers to ensure the doors close correctly and appropriate fire door signage.

Further Maintenance Work

Whilst in the same block, we completed the maintenance of the existing kitchen and store room fire doors to maintain them to current standards.

Replacement On-Call Doors

15 On-Call bedroom doors have been replaced with 30-minute rated FD30s Ash veneer door-sets and integrated over panels. As well as offering passive fire protection, these replacement doors have an enhanced acoustic rating offering better potential for rest for the staff in a busy area of the hospital. Door-sets were supplied by Humphrey and Stretton with ironmongery from Spiller Door Controls Direct.

Improved Escape Route and Fire Compartmentation

We have just been awarded the contract to replace the existing stairwell doors in the nursing home for 60-minute rated FD60s fire door-sets and associated ironmongery, coupled with the supply and installation of new FD30s veneer leaf and a half door-sets to add corridor breaks and improve the fire compartmentation of the building.

Fix Only Door Installations

Whilst these new stairwell and corridor break doors are in manufacture, we have since recommenced on site for the second phase of the 18 month fire door replacement programme we were originally engaged for. This sees us replacing all the existing non-fire rated doors around the hospital on Level 1 with SDS Specialist Door Solutions fire door-sets, whom we are preferred installers.

Fire Door Surveys

We are currently working through reports having just completed a fire door survey of the existing fire doors on Level 2 of the hospital. Once complete, we will submit our survey report to Hanevo and The Trust with our recommendations.

Given the numerous steps involved in the fire door procurement process, especially when working on multiple concurrent sub-projects, strong project management skills are required along with clear and concise communications. Fire Door Experts pride ourselves on offering a true full circle service providing peace of mind from project conception to completion and beyond.

The Home Office has introduced a new bill to improve fire safety in buildings

Building on action already taken to ensure tragedies like the Grenfell Tower never happen again, the new Fire Safety Bill amends the Fire Safety Order 2005. This clarifies that the responsible person or duty-holder for multi-occupied, residential buildings must ensure fire door maintenance is carried out regularly. This is to manage and reduce the risk of fire for entrance doors to individual flats that open into common parts of the building.

More details will emerge over the coming months, but the Fire Door Experts team welcome this new Bill as this is an area of building maintenance that is often overlooked. Fire doors often only appear on a responsible person’s radar when they become faulty – by that time, they’re endangering life, and probably have been for some time!

With such exacting tolerances, such as 3mm gaps around the leaf edges, front entrance doors need to be regularly maintained and fit for purpose. This may sound a strange comment to make – they also need to be a fire rated door-assembly in the first place!

When carrying out surveys or maintenance works, we’re often presented with doors missing vital elements such as intumescent strips and fire rated hinges. Unfortunately, it’s not just a simple job for our technicians to fit these parts to “upgrade” a door into a fire door; without these parts present, we have to assume it was never a factory tested fire door – or the intumescent strips would have been present!

Simple, regular maintenance visits by accredited fire door technicians can keep all fire doors at optimum performance levels, and providing effective passive fire protection.

This is what our site team have found behind a frame of an existing fire door in a live hospital ward.  The wall has been loosely filled with timber off-cuts and newspaper!

Fire stopping correctly between the back of door frames and the wall sub-structure (behind the architraves) is a critical part of a fire door-sets function. As important as the door leaf itself, fire stopping enables the door-set to restrict the passage of cold smoke and fire for the specified period of time.

Yet it is one of the main areas where we constantly find it neglected, or worst still not carried out at all.  All fire door-set installations and existing fire door assemblies that are being maintained must have fire stopping between the back of frame and sub-structure. This must be carried out as per the manufacturers installation instructions and as per BS 8214 (2016).

Not having the correct materials behind the architraves means fire-doors are totally ineffective for what they were designed for.  This is why all fire door-sets should be installed by third party accredited installers.

Materials that should be used vary depending on the depth of the void, it’s not just a case of filling up the gaps with something inflammable! Intumescent material and intumescent mastic as specified in the fire door-sets’ installation instructions or the fire certificate data sheet should be used to fill any gaps.

Gaps up to 10mm – intumescent mastic tested to BS 476: Part 20: 1987 and EN1366-4

Gaps between 10mm and 20mm – non-combustible mineral fibre material for linear joints which is then encapsulated with intumescent mastic as above.

Gaps in excess of 30mm – timber packer infills the same density as the frame.

Once this work has been completed and the installation detail has been checked, architrave should then be fitted as they often form an integral part of the fire door assembly and its ability to provide effective passive fire protection.

What should should never, ever, ever be used is random timber off-cuts and rolled up newspaper!!