DOORS&WINDOWS
POOR FIRE DOOR INSPECTION RESULTS SHOW NEED
FOR BETTER INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE
» THE NEWS THAT THREE
quarters (76%) of fire doors
inspected last year by the Fire
Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS)
are not fit for purpose highlights
the challenges the industry faces
to ensure fire doors do the lifesaving
job they are supposed to.
That’s the view of Howard
Trotter, Business Manager of
Shelforce, who specialise in
providing high-quality PVCu and
aluminium windows and doors to
Local Authority building projects
and recently launched its new
compliant Fireshel 30-minure
fire, smoke, and security resistant
door.
“The correct specification,
installation and ongoing
maintenance of a fire door can
mean the difference between
life or death for occupants, so
it’s vital that building owners
take responsibility and ensure
that their fire doors are regularly
inspected and maintained,” said
Howard.
“It’s important for Local
Authorities and building owners
to be provided with the right
information about fire doors.
While third-party certificated fire
doors provide crucial specification
information and proof of
performance, they must be
installed by third-party accredited
installers who have completed
additional enhanced training at
the door manufacturer.”
The FDIS data, which refers to
more than 100,000 inspections
in over 2,700 buildings across
the UK, showed that nearly a
quarter (24%) of fire doors that
were third-party certificated
were correctly installed and
maintained, 40% of thirdparty
certificated fire doors
were condemned due to poor
maintenance and 36% due to
both poor installation and poor
maintenance.
The fully Fireshel door set
solution has achieved all the
new stringent recommendations
set by the MHCLG and has
proven 30-minute fire resistance
consistency having been fire
tested from both sides many
times to EN1634 -1, achieving
49 minutes fire resistance. It
has also been PAS 024 Security
tested and Q Mark 3rd Party
independent audited for both fire
and security compliance. And
all components have been tested
and approved against the new
2020 Q Mark 170 Scheme Fire
and Security Composite door Set
requirements. To help provide
Local Authorities with everything
they need to ensure fire doors are
performing to their maximum
every time, Shelforce is offering a
comprehensive fire door package
with its Fireshel system, ranging
from fabrication through to
installation, maintenance, and
emergency repairs.
For more information call
Shelforce on 0121 603 5262 or
visit www.shelforce.com
DELAYED HOME IMPROVEMENT SUPPORT COULD
CRIPPLE THE WINDOW INDUSTRY’S RECOVERY
» ANNOUNCED BY CHANCELLOR
Rishi Sunak recently, the Green Homes
Grant Scheme will see eligible homeowners
receive vouchers of up to £5,000 to pay for
environmentally friendly improvements,
including double glazing. Unlike many recent
government plans to help the UK economy,
this scheme will not start immediately but will
instead be delayed until September.
Since the announcement, a large number
of window orders have been cancelled as
homeowners seek to save money by upgrading
their homes later in the year when the
vouchers are available.
Glazing is a £6bn industry that encompasses
over 12,000 SME businesses and employs
60,000 people across the country. Getting
the support right for this sector is therefore
imperative in order to protect a significant part
of the economy and protect a large number of
livelihoods.
Commenting on the findings, Mark Kelly,
CEO at Eurocell plc, said: “The typical
value for an installed replacement window is
around £450, so by offering £5,000 vouchers,
homeowners are seeing the value of an entire
home window refit coming their way. The
downside of this is that orders are being put
on hold which the glazing industry needs now
if it is to recover from the lockdown – pushing
this income back by three months means
that by the time it arrives many suppliers and
installers will have had to face redundancies or
even going out of business.
“Specific action that we want the Chancellor
to take includes not only bringing the scheme
forward, and making it as simple as possible
and allowing the vouchers to be backdated for
work in July and August; but also giving us
more details about it, such as what building
materials will be claimable and who exactly
is going to count as eligible. For example, we
would assume that based on previous schemes
of a similar nature, this would only apply to
first-time double-glazing installations and is
not an opportunity for existing but old double
glazing to be replaced. If this is the case then it
needs to be spelled out, as homeowners could
be delaying projects that won’t be covered by
the voucher scheme anyway.”
www.eurocell.co.uk
18 » AUG 2020 » CLEARVIEW-UK.COM