22 | MAY 2022
News
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OPENING THE DOOR TO SOCIAL HOUSING SAFETY IN BIRMINGHAM
The Decent Homes standard is designed to ensure that the homes of social housing tenants are well maintained and safe . For Birmingham City Council , this manifests as a continuous capital works programme for more than 60,000 properties , which are maintained and refurbished on a regular basis . Construction company , Wates , is responsible for capital and property improvement works and responsive repairs for more than half of these properties , along with refurbishments of void homes in the east and west quadrants of the city . The £ 430m contract is the largest housing maintenance contract in Europe , and Wates works with door manufacturer , Shelforce , and UAP , the specialist in locks and hardware for doors and windows , to provide safe and secure doors across the portfolio of 31,000 homes .
Safer & more secure
Birmingham City Council properties range from bungalows to tower blocks , where fire doors are required to slow the spread of fire and smoke from common areas into individual homes and vice versa . All door replacements involve FD30-rated fire doors , featuring fire-rated TS008 Soterian letterplates , Duo stainless steel door handles and spyholes from UAP . The latest tranche of door installations involves 2,000 Fireshel doors from Shelforce , fitted with a full set of UAP hardware .
The performance of the door hardware is critical to the safety and security performance of the whole door , so it is vital that UAP and Shelforce work collaboratively on specification and testing of the completed doorset . Approved Document Q : Security , Dwellings in 2015 , requires doors to achieve PAS 24 certification ; a rigorous testing process which ensures the factory assembled , fully pre-hung door and frame , including all hardware and locks ,
can withstand attempts to gain access . Composite fire doors , such as those installed at the homes in Birmingham , must also be tested as part of a complete door configuration , including all hardware , so UAP provides technical assistance throughout the specification and testing process to ensure that hardware is correctly installed , supporting first-time passing of the mandatory tests . In addition to offering excellent fire safety , aligned to the fire rating of the FD30-rated doors , the TS008 Soterian letterplates provided by UAP also provide excellent security and aesthetics . UAP has designed them with a pivoting stay mechanism , which reduces the internal flap projection to just 35mm from the door surface , giving a less intrusive feel to the door . This enables the door to open fully without the risk of any damage to the interior wall , an important factor in reducing property maintenance and delivering both safety and convenience for the tenant .
Enabling the door to open fully also plays a role in ensuring the properties comply with Equality Act regulations for disabled access . The DUO door handles supplied by UAP for installation on each door are also Equality Act compliant and have been designed with a tube-shaped handle for a comfortable grip when operating . With a 243mm long backplate , these handles provide a robust , high quality solution for entrance doors and UAP provides them with a lifetime guarantee , making them ideal for the best value approach required in social housing .
Julian Roberts , technical services director at UAP commented : “ In social housing environments , durability and service life are particularly important because the goal is to maximise tenant comfort , extend the service life of the property and reduce maintenance demand and costs . All the products we have been supplying to Shelforce fit those criteria .”
The other key factor for the door hardware is safety . The Secured by Design certified UAP Spy Holes installed enable occupiers to check the identity of visitors before opening their door , helping them feel safer and be more secure in their homes .
Specification Support
The door replacement programme is ongoing and so too is the collaboration between UAP and Shelforce .
Howard Trotter , business manager at Shelforce commented : “ We have worked with UAP for just over a year and they have been fantastic . The team at UAP has been excellent in terms of providing information and advice when we need it .
“ From a specification point of view , UAP listen to what we want and then try and match it . Specification is never a problem , and they provide clever choices that are both aesthetically pleasing and practical .”
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