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hammer1
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Latest on fire doors tests

Post by hammer1 »

Hot off the press from MHCLG, not good news I am afraid troops, not good at all................


The testing programme on composite door sets has been suspended, as to date none of the doors tested have met performance standards, as such the team have drawn the conclusion that there is a “systemic problem” with all composite doors and as such the advice is that composite doors should not be installed, until such time as the door manufacturers supplying such doors, can supply sufficient test evidence to confirm that a product is suitable for installation. .pale
• To this end MHCLG have suspended imports of door blanks from the EU
• It was confirmed that there was no pattern regarding how the doors failed and it was due to a range of issues and points of weakness,
• They will be releasing details of the test results, but no definitive timescales for this was given.
• Their position is that all composite doors require replacement, a risk based approached is recommended, based on the location of the door in the block in context of other layers of protection, (NB this will include certified doors previously installed by leaseholders – how we manage this will warrant further discussion) .pale
• There is no planned programme to test timber door sets however a piece of work is taking place with the CPA to develop a list of door manufacturers who MHCLG deem to have sufficient test information and as such, they are willing to direct the sector to, in order to move forward door replacement programmes .NB You should no longer consider the use of global test certificates as acceptable.
• The team have advised national trading standards, who are working with the UK door manufacturers to support them, however the sector is advised to take legal advice and to speak to their local trading standards teams, regarding how to progress with initiating conversations with door manufacturers/ contractors where composite doors have been installed in their stock (as effectively we have paid for a FD30s doorset, which was not provided) with the aim to reach a negotiated agreement regarding remediation (rather than have to seek legal recourse).


Please keep a watchful eye on the MHCLG page for further updates to guidance notes: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/acti ... oor-issues
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Re: Latest on fire doors tests

Post by Essex »

This country has a lot to answer for.
Education is the key. A manager should always stand by their team. They employed them.
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Re: Latest on fire doors tests

Post by Messy »

What a mess.
Thanks for sharing this info
Let's hope that:
1) Landlords and enforcers don't panic and demand all composite doors are replaced, rather than using a risk based process (a concept that relies on competency and sound technical advice - both of which as Grenfell has shown, are in short supply at the moment). And:
2) There's not a rush of unscrupulous sales people knocking on people's composite doors and using fear to make unnecessary changes while pocketting a £million🙁.
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Re: Latest on fire doors tests

Post by witsd »

As I have pointed out to a number of landlords: You've had issues with owner-occupiers installing their own UPVC doors for decades and that's never induced panic – whilst this is certainly more widespread, the same risk-based sensible approach should be used.
We often think that when we have completed our study of one we know all about two, because 'two' is 'one and one.' We forget that we still have to make a study of 'and.'
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