A major initiative within the builders’ merchant sector is set to boost fire safety knowledge and the installation of properly certificated fire doors in a huge range of building projects, large and small.

Travis Perkins, the largest builders’ merchant in the UK, has confirmed its decision to become a BWF-Certifire Approved Fire Door Centre as part of its long-standing commitment to fire safety.

It will establish 10 branches across the UK as experts in the specification and supply of BWF-Certifire third-party certificated fire doors and doorsets; located in Battersea Lombard Road, Birkenhead Stores, Glasgow Pollackshaws, Luton, Paddington, Salford, St. Pancras, Staples Corner, Vauxhall and Vivark Stores (Huyton).

The service will be made available to all Travis Perkins customers, from individual tradespeople to the company’s major contracts with local authorities and social landlords.

Richard Holland, Category Manager for doors, windows and joinery at Travis Perkins, said: “While we first started selling third-party certificated fire doors more than 60 years ago, becoming an Approved Fire Door Centre now means that our trained branch teams will be able to offer specialist advice based on a much deeper knowledge and understanding of third party certificated fire doors and compatible components.”

Hannah Mansell, Technical Manager for the British Woodworking Federation and spokesperson for Fire Door Safety Week, said:“Travis Perkins’ leadership in this area is to be celebrated. It is critical that the merchant sector steps up to this standard of expertise in products such as third-party certificated fire doors which play such an important role in saving life and property.

"A fire door won’t work unless it is fitted with all its correct and compatible components, and installed correctly, which some customers aren’t aware of. The chain of knowledge from supplier to customer is integral in making sure these life safety products are fit for purpose and work when they need to.”

She also highlighted the launch of the BWF’s Fire Door Procurement Tool and factcard, which is being promoted for all builders’ merchants during this year’s Fire Door Safety Week campaign (25 September – 1 October 2017).

The Fire Door Procurement Tool is a free, interactive app designed to support the procurement process for fire doors. It is particularly useful for merchants in the way it guides the user through each stage of the process, from design and specification to ordering, delivery and storage, and even installation, maintenance and inspection of fire doors.

The toolkit features a range of interactive checklists, diagrams and videos, and works on any smartphone, tablet or laptop that has Adobe Reader.