Pacific Rim Wood hopes to have stolen a march on the competition by adding the BS EN 1634 standard to its Flamebreak fire check door blank.
By successfully gaining the European standard with Chiltern International Fire (CIF), Pacific Rim sales director Shaun Hannan said the company would be looking to “develop markets in mainland Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere who want European test evidence”.
Mark Cummings, CIF head of fire resistance testing, said most UK door manufacturers and suppliers still test to BS 476: Part 22.
“That is, of course, absolutely fine,” he said. “The British standard will remain in force for the foreseeable future. But, if and when CE marking becomes mandatory, it will require BS EN 1634 test evidence.”
Mr Cummings is concerned the UK fire door industry is leaving it rather late. “Since the start of the year, most of the testing we have carried out to the European standard has been for glazing manufacturers, for whom CE marking is already a big issue,” he said.
