As a member of the Winkhaus fire door scheme, the Bowater Doors FireShield range of composite fire doors are amongst the first to attain the full suite of independently audited BM Trada Q Mark accreditations for the three critical fire door performance requirements, fire, smoke and security.
Winkhaus UK Technical Director Chris Flaherty explains the importance of the new Q Mark certification for Smoke. “The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) guidelines for fire doors identifies three critical performances that require testing – Fire, Smoke & Security. The guidelines also clearly state that these critical performances should be 3rd party independently audited”.
“Traditional test evidence most often includes smoke resistance, but the smoke evidence has not been controlled by the 3rd Party independent audit/certification scheme as recommended by the MHCLG”.
Chris explains “Driving this change ensures that all three performances are tested and regularly independently audited to prove that all future production in the coming weeks, months and years will continue to provide the safest door set solution”.
Jon Cole, Chief Operating Officer at Secured by Design comments – “In 2021 we secured agreement from all of the UK certification bodies working in this area to incorporate smoke control into their fire and security schemes for flat/apartment entrance doorsets”.
“Flat/Apartment entrance door sets are becoming increasingly complex products and those who are part of the Winkhaus fire door scheme are the first to meet all of the SBD requirements through the Q Mark 3rd party certification scheme”.
Rebecca Louvre, Commercial Director at Bowater Doors welcomes an additional level of third party accreditation and accountability,
“By joining the BM Trada Q Mark accreditations scheme, we have made a commitment to collaborate with suppliers to ensure that we actively look at ways of developing our product, including additional recognised third party accreditations.
We agree that UKAS accredited certification bodies should hold as much importance to smoke tests as the fire and security elements and should be audited by a third party. We welcome this change and the transparency, collaboration and trust it instils in the marketplace.”
In addition to this, to support the golden thread of information, all of our fire doors are available as Revit models, visit www.bowaterdoors.co.uk/new-build-specification/bim