Mike Sutcliffe, Business Development Manager of Vanquish Hardware Protection, which specialists in the manufacture of precision Intumescent kits for rebated hardware for use in timber fire door assemblies, discusses how the market has changed since the Grenfell tragedy – and why hardware protection has become even more important.
It shouldn’t take a tragedy to drive change, but sadly Grenfell and the subsequent Hackitt Review was a huge wake-up call for the construction industry to address its attitudes to fire safety.
Five years on, the market has made a concerted effort to improve manufacturing and compliance throughout the supply chain to make sure we never see the likes of Grenfell again.
Fire safety is quite rightly at the forefront of every part the construction sector, and a radical review of the broader operations of the fire door industry was required to ensure consistent and high performance to the expected standards.
It has meant an increase in requests for third-party evidence and a Field of Application to prove the suitability of materials and a much greater sense of responsibility and caution when specifying and using them on buildings.
A demand for traceability
Since Grenfell, the industry has been following guidelines much more closely and customers such as specifiers and installers now demand traceability and peace of mind that manufactures enforce rigorous quality control measures.
Third party certification involves meeting the strict criteria of an initial programme of fire testing, and auditing of the manufacturing process, which are confirmed by ongoing, regular, product testing and auditing.
Full traceability is a crucial part of third party certification, ensuring that even after a product has been installed the door’s pathway through the construction supply chain is visible and the manufacturer can be contacted if that product has failed to function as specified.
The problem has been that, if something has gone wrong, it hasn’t been able to be traced back. Third party certification, however, provides a paper trail and enables the relevant information for the product to be accessed.
This provides reassurance and confidence that the correct management procedures, manufacturing processes and systems are in place to ensure manufacturing consistency.
The importance of hardware protection
Intumescent hardware protection plays a key role in making sure fire doors perform as they should. When hardware such as hinges, locks and latches, flush bolts, door closers and letterplates are rebated into a fire door assembly, the integrity and performance of the system is compromised. Any metallic components rebated into a timber door will function as heat conductors and accelerate the transfer of heat through the door. This will reduce the time it takes for the doorset to reach integrity failure.
Intumescent materials begin to expand when exposed to temperatures above 180°C. The resultant foam acts as an insulator, reducing the rate at which heat transfers through the door, preventing heat transfer on the rebated hardware and sealing voids created during the rebating process.
One of the main concerns with the intumescent hardware protection market is the lack of mandatory third party certification. This means that products may end up on fire doors without the necessary testing and consistency of performance.
For example, there is no minimum requirement for graphite content in graphite-based intumescent and activation temperatures vary between compounds, highlighting the issue with interchangeability between materials – a doorset successful in fire testing using one brand of graphite-based intumescent may behave very differently with another.
Third party certification means the same product produced every single time and full traceability allows the product to be identified after installation and ensures that is has been tested to the relevant standards.
Vanquish is the first and only UK hardware protection manufacturer to acquire third party certification through IFC (International Fire Consultants Ltd) for its hardware protection products, – FlexiFire® graphite-based and Fire Protectors phosphate-based intumescent. Visit https://www.vanquish-hp.co.uk/ or call 01725 578020.