The new Halspan XT exterior and Halspan IT interior solid timber core fire doors are all about innovation and market responsiveness.
They also represent an evolution. They are the outcome of over 20 years’ experience in the UK and international fire door markets and, maintains the company, of a continuous development programme, underpinned by one of the most rigorous testing and certification regimes in the sector.
Halspan was set up in the late 1990s by owner-chairman John Martin, his vision to “revolutionise the world of door manufacture” with a fire-resistant blank featuring a new three-layer structure particleboard core.
“It was the first available product in particleboard and the question was whether it was a suitable material for a fire door blank,” said technical director Rhod Williams, who has been with Halspan from the outset, after spells with James Latham and veneered panel and door specialist FR Shadbolt & Sons Ltd. “Those first exhaustive tests to BS476 part 22 1987 gave the answer to that – and it was yes.”
Halspan, he added, didn’t just want to take the fire door sector in a new direction with its blanks’ composition, but also the quality and performance assurance that came with them.
“The ambition was to provide the package; a high level product backed with really rigorous proof of compliance,” said Mr Williams. “There were a lot of imported products at the time where the tech was only underpinned by a limited test base. Halspan set out to offer a product the customer could be absolutely confident was fully compliant, supported with all the right technical documentation, the complete solution – and that’s been our approach ever since.”
The objective was also to enable a broader range of fabricators to produce a compliant fire door.
“At the outset, the market was dominated by the big door manufacturers, who did and still do a very good job,” said Mr Williams.
“But our fully-tested and certified blanks opened up opportunities in the fire door sector to small- to medium-sized joinery companies, workshops and individual joiners and carpenters who might not have the equipment to make fully composed door leaves. They just need to assemble with the compliant products and materials, apply the hardwood edge, veneer or paint and they have a fire-rated door they can trust.”
In terms of technical support, Halspan sees the three priorities as quality, clarity and accessibility of information and data.
“Our products are ultimately designed to save lives, so this is an area we’re constantly reviewing and looking to improve to ensure doors using Halspan blanks are fabricated and installed correctly,” said Mr Williams.
“We provide technical reference packs, data sheets, certification details, fabrication and installation guides and generic how tos. We’ve focused increasingly on maintenance too. Digitisation has also enabled us to ratchet up our support. We have a comprehensive, continually developing technical hub on our website (www.halspan.com), our products carry QR codes so fabricators can just click on them with their smart phones and download all the necessary data and guides, and we’re set to launch further digital technical support platforms this year.”
The company, he added, additionally provides NBS Plus and CSI format specifications and NBS BIM and CAD detailing and supporting technical information.
Halspan products carry BM TRADA Q-Mark, Warringtonfire Certifire, IFC and Intertek certification. All its timber-based products, its European-sourced particleboard, pine for its solid timber core products, MDF and hardwood plywood facing are FSC or PEFC-certified and, of course, meet EU Timber Regulation legality due diligence requirements.
“It seems that barely two weeks go by when we’re not being audited by one of our certification providers,” said Mr Williams.
The company has also developed its own range of door hardware and intumescent seals.
“We wanted to provide a convenient one-stop-shop, plus the added comfort for customers that both their door blanks and associated products were compliant with latest standards,” said Mr Williams.
Halspan sells to over 65 countries worldwide where fire door products have to satisfy BS and EN standards, including the rest of Europe, Middle East and Africa.
“We’re forging into India and South-east Asia too as regulatory standards, founded on BS and EN, in relation to fire are being tightened,” said Mr Williams. “We also source the Halspan UniversaL Plus timber and mineral-based door blank range from the US, which is compliant with its UL-10C positive fire door pressure test. That entails both initial fire door testing in the furnace and an integrity hose steam test. This gives us access primarily to the Middle East and north African market.”
Halspan started with a team of just three. Across its sites in Linlithgow and Stansted, plus offices in Dubai and now Delhi, which opened last year, it now has a workforce of 25.
The company’s product range has also developed significantly. The particleboard internal range, rated at 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes, now comprises Prima and Prima Plus formaldehyde-free and Optima, plus non-fire rated Veria products and the Halspan UniversaL Plus range, which is rated to the US standard 90 minutes.
Which brings us to the brand new Halspan XT and IT solid timber core ranges. These are successors to Halspan’s popular ProTech exterior and interior range, introduced a few years ago.
“We developed ProTech to appeal to the more traditional fire-door market that prefers a timber core, but it developed a broad following,” said Mr Williams. “In fact, there are still a lot of ProTech products in circulation, which we’ll continue to support. But Halspan XT and IT take our solid timber core offer forward and represent a significant step up.”
Halspan XT, he explained, comprises an ultra-stable three-layer solid pine core, with the grain in the outer layers running vertically, the mid-layer horizontally. The outer face is class 3 hardwood plywood, as against the ProTech exterior range’s class 2 and, claims Halspan, making it unlike any other solid timber product on the market with such a broad base of product testing.
“Class S plywood makes Halspan XT uniquely suited to fully-exposed exterior conditions, at the same time we’ve designed the product so that fabricators and installers can easily transition to it from ProTech,” said Mr Williams.
Halspan XT is also tested to the PAS 24 Secured by Design standard at Element Warringtonfire’s Wednesdbury site.
“This dual scope testing spells both convenience and peace of mind for fabricators and installers; they get a fire door that’s certified fire safe and secure in one,” said Mr Williams.
The Halspan IT range features the same three-layer timber core as Halspan XT, but with an MDF facing. It too is designed for fabricator convenience and productivity.
“We have the mill sand the MDF to a fine finish, so there is no need for calibration sanding by the fabricator,” said Mr Williams.
“They only need to edge-band, flush the lipping and then it’s straight to the paint shop for priming.”
The new products, he maintained, are also backed with a “tighter, more secure supply chain and logistics”.
Development of the Halspan XT and IT ranges was well in the pipeline at the time of the Grenfell Tower fire. But, maintains Halspan, the new products equip it even more effectively to service and support customers in the new fire safety regulatory environment following the disaster, particularly with its emphasis on a chain of responsibility for the fire performance of construction products, from manufacture through to maintenance in use.
“We’ve been involved in talks with government through the inquiry period and also liaised closely on the issues with the Architectural and Specialist Door Manufacturers’ Association (ASDMA), of which we are members,” said Mr Williams.
“A key stress in the post-Grenfell Hackitt Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety is the need to establish a permanent ‘golden thread’ of fire safety responsibility, involving everyone along the supply chain, to ensure products are fit for purpose from the outset and remain so. That includes producers, fabricators, installers, specifiers, contractors and those responsible for building management – from private landlords and local authorities to housing trusts and associations.
“This is something we fully endorse, and can support with our assured compliance. We especially back the increased emphasis on correct maintenance to ensure fire safety performance throughout product life. In response, while we already laid great stress on market communication around our products, we are ratcheting this up even more. For instance, we are also running a series of webinars on Halspan XT and IT. These focus on the benefits and technical specifications of the products, but also why and how the supply chain must react in the wake of Grenfell.”
