Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, we’re required to carry out and document periodic door inspections in all buildings over 11m.
- Communal fire doors are inspected every 3 months
- Flat entrance doors are inspected annually.
We’re committed to going above and beyond the requirements and we assess all our fire doors within our buildings, even those less than 11m. The frequency of the inspection in these buildings is slightly different.
- Communal fire doors are inspected every 6 months
- Flat entrance doors are inspected every 2 years.
All inspections are completed by our fire safety consultants Savills.
How will I know when my inspection is due?
Before an inspection, we’ll contact you to let you know when we’ll be on site. Most residents will receive an appointment window.
During the visit, we’ll knock on the doors of any homes that haven’t had an assessment within the expected timeframe.
If you’re unable to give access at the specified time, please get in touch and we’ll work with you to find a date and time that suits you.
For a door to be fully assessed, it must be inspected on both sides, so it’s important access is provided.
What happens during an inspection?
We carry out a non‑technical inspection to check the condition and performance of your fire door; it typically takes less than 30 minutes. If we spot anything that needs repairing, we record it and pass it to our Fire Safety Delivery Works Team.
What happens next?
The team review what’s needed and issue the job to our accredited contractors. There’s no set legal deadline for completing these repairs, but we work hard to resolve them as quickly as possible, starting with anything higher risk.
The contractor will then contact you to arrange a convenient appointment. They’ll also explain what they’ll be doing and how long it should take.
If you want to know about any repairs identified to your flat entrance door, please do get in touch.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
We carry out regular fire door checks in your building.
This is a vital inspection as fire doors play an essential role in preventing or inhibiting the spread of smoke, toxic gases and fire in the event that a fire breaks out.
The contractor will only need a couple of minutes to complete the inspection of your front door.
- If there are any gaps around the door frame
- If seals and hinges are fitted correctly
- That the door closer shuts the door
- That the door closes correctly around the whole frame
- That there’s no visible damage to the door, or door closer
- If there’s been any alterations or damage to windows or vents in the door.
If we identify an issue with your door, we’ll arrange for our local contractor to complete a repair or install a replacement.
They’ll contact you with an appointment for this work
Due to the scale of the programme, we aren’t booking individual appointments at this time.
Our contractor will visit each building approximately every 3 months to complete inspections.
During the initial rounds of visits, the contractor will call into your building and attempt to access as many homes as possible.
Set appointment dates will be arranged for any homes they’ve not been able to access during these visits as we near the end of the programme.
Our contractors may attend your building and place a small QR code label on every door within the communal areas, including flat entrance doors.
The QR code labels are small and discreet, measuring 20mm x 20mm. See image to the right.
This label allows us to record information on the type/condition of the door and to keep a log of future inspections.
A survey of your door may identify repair issues that could stop the door reacting as we’d expect if there was a fire.
To ensure it does operate as a fire door should, we may need to carry out some upgrades so it is compliant with fire safety standards.
A new fire door usually takes 12-15 weeks to arrive.
To replace a front door will usually take us around half a day.
When an appointment is made to replace your door, the contractor will provide further information on this.
An intumescent strip is a thin seal usually fixed around the edges of a fire door.
The intumescent material expands when heated up and blocks the small spaces between the door which reduces the chance of fire and smoke spreading throughout the building.
Door lipping is where an additional hardwood strip is added to the sides or base of a door.
This is usually required where gaps are present around door leaf's or where the edge of the door gets damaged over time.
Instead of needing to replace a complete door it can be 'lipped' to create a new flush edge to the door, which helps the door to fit tightly into its frame.
Fire safety regulation say that all flat entrance doors need to be fitted with a door closer.
This is because a fire door will only be effective in preventing fire spread if it's closed.
The door therefore needs to be fitted with a compliant self-closing device (an overhead door closer).
Please contact us if you’ve any mobility issues we need to be aware of as we can offer you an easy opening closer
Contact usIt may be that your door was checked by our Fire Risk Assessment consultant and identified as needing work.
Please don’t be concerned, your neighbours' doors are also on our programme to check and complete any works required.
Following the Grenfell fire tragedy, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) began investigating the fire door industry.
They specifically looked at doors made of a mixture of materials (composite). They found that some of these type of doors failed to meet the legal requirements.
If doors don’t have the relevant up-to-date test certificate, and are compliant to current advice, then we must replace them with doors that meet fire safety regulations.
UPVC doors are generally not fire rated door.
For this reason they shouldn’t be installed within communal areas.
Some UPVC doors may fall under the category of being a 'Composite Door Set'. Please see the answer relating to composite doors above.
Regulatory guidance and legislation changes over time. What was acceptable 10 years ago may no longer be considered appropriate now.
A Fire Risk Assessment will look at the building, assess the risks and decide if upgrades, repairs or changes are needed to improve the level of safety.
Fanlights are small windows above your flat entrance door, often boarded over.
We must ensure whatever material installed, glazing or board, is fire rated.
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