Fire-Resistant doorsets – Certification

Certification of Composite Fire Doorsets (CFDs) may take two forms, that to comply with the Construction Products Regulations (UK CPR or EU CPR) or a wider ranging UK independent third-party certification carried out by UKAS accredited certification bodies, these bodies may also be Approved Bodies under the UK CPR.

At present only External Fire Resistant Doorsets may have a Declaration of Performance (DoP) and either UKCA or CE marked in accordance with the UK CPR or EU CPR as the product standard for Internal doorsets, although published in 2018, has not been cited in the Official Journal of the European Union and therefore is not a Designated Standard (DS) or harmonised European Standard (hEN). The resistance to fire Essential Characteristic must be declared against another DS or hEN, namely BS EN 16034 and this standard restricts its use to external doorsets only.

Product Certification in compliance with the UK CPR or EU CPR relates to specific requirements of Designated Standards (DS) in the UK or harmonised European Standards (hENs) in the EU. All DSs and hENs contain an Annex ZA which details the Essential Characteristics (ECs) that may be declared for external doorsets and the level of Attestation and Verification of Constancy of Performance (AVCP) required for each EC. The CPR, UK or EU, details the tasks for both the manufacturer and Authorised Bodies (ABs) in the UK and Notified Bodies (NBs) to carry out according to the AVCP System requirements in Annex V of the CPR.

Within the fenestration industry only AVCP Systems 1, 3 and 4 are used. These systems have various requirements for manufacturers, test houses/labs and product certification bodies. In the UK test houses/labs and product certification bodies must be accredited by UKAS and are known as Approved Bodies (ABs). In the EU these bodies are known as Notified Bodies. ABs or NBs may be test houses only or test and product certification bodies.

The requirements of the three AVCPs applicable to doorsets are as follows:

System 4 – Declaration of the performance of the essential characteristics of the construction product by the manufacturer on the basis of the following items:

1. The manufacturer shall carry out:
   • determination of the product-type on the basis of testing, type calculation, tabulated values or descriptive documentation of the product
   • Factory production control
2. No tasks for the Approved or Notified Bodies

System 3 – Declaration of the performance of the essential characteristics of the construction product by the manufacturer on the basis of the following items:

1. The manufacturer shall carry out factory production control (FPC)
2. The AB or NB test laboratory shall assess the performance on the basis of testing (based on sampling carried out by the manufacturer), calculation, tabulated values or descriptive documentation of the construction product.

System 1– Declaration of the performance of the essential characteristics of the construction product by the manufacturer on the basis of the following items:

1. The manufacturer shall carry out:
   • factory production control;
   • further testing of samples taken at the manufacturing plant by the manufacturer in accordance with the prescribed test plan.
2. The Approved Product Certification Body or notified Product Certification Body shall decide on the issuing, restriction, suspension or withdrawal of the certificate of constancy of performance of the construction production the basis of the outcome of the following assessments and verifications carried out by that body:
   • an assessment of the performance of the construction product carried out on the basis of testing (including sampling), calculation, tabulated values or descriptive documentation of the product;
   • initial inspection of the manufacturing plant and of the factory production control;
   • continuing surveillance, assessment and evaluation of factory production control

Although product certification in accordance with the CPR, AVCP System 1 enables external fire resistance doorsets to be legally placed on the market in the UK, following the issues identified in 2018, some UKAS accredited Independent Third-Party Certification Bodies in the UK have developed a more extensive certification process which the ACDM fully supports. This UK based voluntary certification process for Composite Fire-resistant Doorsets addresses, amongst other issues, certification of internal fire resistance composite doorsets as well as external fire resistant composite doorsets, requirement for primary test evidence from the manufacturer, regular audit testing by the certification body and ongoing review of component suppliers. The use of cascaded test evidence is allowed to enable the full scope of doorset design and styles to be included in an assessment referred to as either a Global Assessment or a Field of Application (FoA). The doorset doorset manufacturer is usually required to carry out testing of doorsets manufactured by them, the style and number of these are determined by the certification body based on the range of doorset styles and specification the manufacturer wishes to market. The extent of testing will also depend on the amount of secondary test evidence available, usually provided by system houses supplying key components for the manufacture of CFDs.

Prior to the changes agreed between the Government and members of the ACDM in 2018 following the Grenfell Tower fire, CFDs like doors manufactured from other materials were generally tested to BS 476-22:1987 and provided with an assessment, often referred to as a Global Assessment (GA), to extend the door style and specification based on those test results. These GAs were sometimes used by CFD manufacturers to produce CFDs but without testing their own manufactured doorsets. This process of cascading GAs from a source to a producer without any scrutiny to ensure the manufacturer was producing CFDs in compliance with the original test evidence and GA was criticised by Government and the GAs were withdrawn by test houses and certification bodies until a more robust system could be implemented.

The required robust certification schemes have been developed by certification bodies and generally require the manufacturer to have primary test evidence demonstrating the performance of CFDs 

1. It should be noted that when certifying construction products to System 1, there is no requirement for the manufacturer to provide any test evidence in their own name, all test evidence may be cascaded from another manufacturer or systems house/designer.
2. AVCP System 1 does not require the certification body to carry out regular audit testing and providing there have been no changes to either the product or test standard, the original test evidence has no expiry date.

manufactured by them and with the inclusion of secondary test evidence (test results from testing carried out by third parties) a range of door sizes, styles, glazing and hardware options are incorporated in an assessment (Field of Application or GA) by an experienced certification body assessor. These schemes now require the certification body to carry out additional tasks to those required by the CPR AVCP System 1, including a review of component suppliers and regular audit testing of CFD manufactured by the certified manufacturer. These schemes for the certification of CFDs is more robust than certification schemes for fire doors manufactured from other materials.

Although independent third-party certification of CFDs is not a requirement of the Building Regulations, it does provide specifiers with the confidence that manufacturers of CFDs that hold independent third-party certification have robust systems in place to ensure the consistent performance of their products.

1. It should be noted that when certifying construction products to System 1, there is no requirement for the manufacturer to provide any test evidence in their own name, all test evidence may be cascaded from another manufacturer or systems house/designer.
2. AVCP System 1 does not require the certification body to carry out regular audit testing and providing there have been no changes to either the product or test standard, the original test evidence has no expiry date.