“Rising costs have taken some of the shine off the continuing strength of the fire doors market,” according to Richard Lambert, chief executive of the British Woodworking Federation. “It would be wrong to call this a drop in confidence – after all, no one [surveyed] felt negative about the next three months – people always get nervous when their margins start to squeeze. Fire doors are often regarded as a commodity product, which means there is a general perception that the market is reluctant to pay higher prices. The fact that 58% of manufacturers have been able to increase their prices illustrates their confidence in the market.

“The fire doors market is driven by changes in regulation. No doubt the changes in the fire safety regime introduced in October and the revised Approved Document B, published last December, will give further grounds for confidence, not least through the changes in guidance for loft conversions, which now recommends a fire door on every exit onto the staircase intended as the escape route, rather than just one door to hold the fire back from the loft extension itself.

Need for certification

“The BWF-Certifire Fire Door and Doorset Scheme has promoted the benefits of certification for many years as the only way to be sure that the product you buy and install will actually perform as expected in the event of a fire. The new Approved Document has given the strongest ever recommendation towards using certificated fire safety products. If Building Control bodies are being told that they can accept products certificated under recognised schemes to have proved their compliance with the required standards, then manufacturers need to get their products certificated.”

The latest timber fire door survey assesses the timber fire door market in terms of the percentage of manufacturers experiencing a particular business trend (for example, a sales rise) over those experiencing the opposite, expressed as a net balance. On this basis, a balance of 32% of manufacturers sold more timber fire doors in October to December 2006 compared with July to September 2006 (chart 1).

Year-on-year sales also increased, with a net 37% of manufacturers reporting better sales in October to December 2006 compared with the same quarter of 2005 (chart 1). Of those reporting a rise, 75% saw increases of 10% or more.

Orders for timber fire doors also increased, with a balance of 32% of manufacturers reporting fuller order books compared with three months ago.

&#8220There are several contributing factors for the growth we are experiencing in sales of timber fire doors. New legislation and Building Regulations play a large role but people’s awareness of health and safety regulations has also influenced sales. We expect this to continue to build and for our sales to grow in tandem.”

Forecasts are good, with a net 26% of manufacturers expecting better sales in January to March 2007 compared with the previous three months (chart 2). A balance of 58% also forecast a growth in sales over the next three months compared with the same period of 2006 (chart 2).

Optimism

On balance 21% of manufacturers are more optimistic now about the overall prospects for the timber fire door market than three months ago. None of the manufacturers interviewed are less optimistic.

Forty-four per cent of timber fire doors sold over the last 12 months were in fire doorsets. Sixty-three per cent of manufacturers continue to sell fire door frames and 47% supply additional components – for example, fittings for fire doors. The vast majority of manufacturers (95%) advise customers which components to use.

On balance 79% of manufacturers reported a rise in costs of materials compared with three months ago. A net 58% raised their selling prices to counter rising costs.

The main problems facing manufacturers in October to December were supplier price rises (84%) and, equally, price cutting in the market, margin squeeze and supplier service and availability (53%). However, the single biggest problem over this period was supplier price rises, mentioned by 50% of respondents.