Doors, Windows & Glazing Feature
Clarity on composite fire and security doors
Chris Flaherty of Winkhaus UK provides clarity for specifiers following a series of legislation and guidance updates covering the specification of composite fire doors.
To help clear some of this up, listed below are some clarifications to aid specifiers in meeting any new criteria.
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COMPLIANT SPECIFICATION The MHCLG advise within Annex A that composite fire doors should be supplied only by manufacturers audited by a 3rd Party Accreditation Scheme, such as Q Mark or similar. This accreditation should cover three key requirements:
1. The 3rd Party Accreditation scheme necessitates a Field of Application (FoAp) that details a manufacturers compliant range and permutations of doorset
2. The 3rd Party Accreditation scheme then audits that the information contained in the FoAp is correct and current
3. The 3rd Party Accreditation scheme additionally audits the Factory Production Controls at the door set manufacturer to ensure that the products are manufactured with the same consistent specification as the tested products
In summary, 3rd Party Accreditation audits two features of the door set, first
the audit ensures the fire and security resistant doorset test evidence performance meets the correct and current legislative requirements, and secondly the audit also ensures that the manufacturer continues to consistently manufacture the doorset to the current test evidence specification.
FIELD OF APPLICATION Any individual test report is only suitable for the exact size of the tested door, any changes to the door set size are not allowed. The only practical legal document that can state a size range compliance for
Composite Fire Doors (from smallest to largest door set, based on various test reports) is a Field of Application document (FoAp). The FoAp is the “rule book” of what the manufacturer can make, based on
Any individual test report is only suitable for the exact size of the tested door, any changes to the door set size are not allowed. The only practical legal document that can state a size range compliance for Composite Fire Doors (from smallest to largest door set, based on various test reports) is a Field of Application document
here is a lot of confusion and frustration among specifiers as to what is required and what is actually needed following recent updates to legislation and guidance around fire doors.
Maintenance & Refurbishment
the multiple test reports that are summarised in the FoAp. Small variances in Composite Fire Door size could be created by a technical rule called “Direct Field of Application” but this would only be a small per cent difference in size relative to the tested sample – therefore this is not practical to cover a size range for the UK market.
www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM December/January 2021 | 41
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