It’s almost the end of 2024, a year which has bought new change for both Selo and the door industry. Selo’s Managing Director, Hans Purdom, and Sales Director, Harry Purdom, look back on the last 12 months to review the door industry and how the landscape has changed for Selo, fire doors and timer doorsets.
What have been some of key changes in the door industry in 2024?
We have seen continued scrutiny of fire compliance throughout 2024. Legislation and regulatory changes continue emerging to act on lessons learnt from the Grenfell disaster and the resulting enquiry and reports. Specifically in relation to fire doorsets and assemblies, the BS476-22 fire testing standard is finally being removed along with other national standards from building regulation approved documentB1 and 2, effective 2nd of September 2029, so all testing and certification for fire doors should be based on the EN 1634-1 standard then formally classified to EN13501-2 where classification is based on test evidence and EXAP standard rules rather than opinion.
To make sure we continue to supply our customers with fire compliant door solutions, we have spent over 1,936 minutes fire testing throughout 2024. Our team has invested a huge amount of time and effort to ensure we continue to deliver on our brand promises.
What projects stood out in 2024?
Launching our concealed smoke control damper, FumaCE, was a huge highlight for Selo, as we really delivered on our why of ‘simplifying bespoke and complex building methods’.
FumaCE is a unique both in terms of its performance and the challenges it solves. We now have a discreet passive fire protection product CE marked to BS EN12101-8:201.
How do you predict trading conditions for the door industry in 2025?
Selo will continue to go from strength to strength. We have an ongoing fire testing program continuing to expand our product range and provide more assurance and making it simpler for our customers to use Selo for their complete internal door packages.
Riser doors have become more available in the market with newcomers. However, it is very important to consider the compliance and certification is sufficient for the particular applications they are for, especially riser doors as the requirements are often high in these applications.
How do you predict trading conditions for timber doorsets?
The demand for timber doorsets is also looking strong in 2025. We have seen planning applications and approvals are up as well as housing targets for the government to hit. The increase in new homes will increase the demand for timber doorsets.
The continued scrutiny of fire compliance throughout 2024 alongside previous lack of education means there are thousands of non-compliant doorsets in existing buildings that need to be replaced. This demand is one of the primary reasons we founded Modulo Timber Doorsets – to provide a compliant, adjustable timber doorset with short lead times, which will help retrofit and passive fire protection (PFP) companies achieve compliance quickly.
The timber doorsets market is an ever-evolving beast, with so many varying requirements in varying industries and applications. There are also so many possible variations with timber doors, it is always important to ensure that fire doorsets, everything is tested and certified together – all parts of the doorset work together as a system.
2024 has been an interesting year, which has bought about new change but also new opportunities. At Selo, we will continue to deliver on our brand promise to help our customers achieve compliant AND beautiful contemporary interiors.
Thank you to all of our customers, supplier and employees and we look forward to an exciting 2025!