As 2025 comes to a close, Managing Director, Hans Purdom, and Sales Director, Harry Purdom, take the chance to review the door industry this year. A year of slow growth, focusing on compliance and change at a macro-level.
Hans and Harry said:
“As reported by the ONS, it’s been a year of slow growth across the construction industry (1.1% YoY) due to delays in high-rise residential project approvals through Gateway 2 which looks to have eased with the latest data reporting the determinations demonstrate an approval rate of 73%. There has also been uncertainty from macro factors, such as the autumn budget which has caused construction confidence to be mixed and new projects delayed. However, the continued scrutiny of fire compliance, changing legislation and awareness on compliance has driven an increase in retrofit and repair projects. As a result, we have also continued to strive to bring safer and compliant solutions to the market as we spent 30% more time fire testing that in 2024. We have also invested to gain third-party certification from Certifire, as well as joining the British Woodworking Federation and Fire Door Alliance. Our move to a brand-new manufacturing facility at Selo House has allowed us to scale up our manufacturing capacity and quality, whilst providing our customers with an exceptional customer service by having office and factory staff working from one location.”
What have been some of the key changes in the door industry in 2025?
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) was part of the Health and Safety Regulator to improve building safety standards. Gateway 2 is the pre-construction checkpoint for higher-risk buildings (HRBs) under the UK’s Building Safety Act 2022, where the Building Safety Regulator must approve an application for building control before any substantial work can begin. Due to the increased scrutiny, there have been significant delays in applications getting through Gateway 2.
However, in July, the government has stepped in to take direct control of the Building Safety Regulator to attempt unblocking high-rise housing delays and restoring industry confidence. The latest data from Gov.uk shows Gateway 2 determinations continue to rise, with a record 272 decisions across all application types to 24 November – totalling 578 since August 2025.
The PAS2000 Green paper was launched by the BSI aiming to bring safer products to the market and is due for publication in Q1 2026. We have foreseen these changes becoming a requirement which is why we already have most of these processes in place such as Selo Academy, factory production control processes, testing and documentation and use of market feedback.
The increased scrutiny of fire compliance has been a positive shift in the industry, and we have embraced changed by investing in 30 fire tests so far in 2025.
Key milestones from Selo in 2025?
We moved to Selo House which has bought our manufacturing and offices to one location. The move has enabled us to have the facility to build a world-class manufacturing set up, enhanced production and quality assurance, as well as exceptional customer service.
We continued to invest in research and development, as we launched our fully compliant temporary lift shaft – Tempus Lift Shaft – that is fire rated, smoke rated and JCOP compliant. We also continued to invest heavily in fire testing to provide compliant solutions for our customers.
Educating the industry to help provide safer products and buildings remains a high priority for us. This year, we have launched a new ‘Building Smoke Control Systems’ CPD as well as our Timber Door Academy. We will continue to invest in CPDs and Academy training sessions next year.
We also received our third-party certification from Certifire, as well as joined the British Woodworking Federation and Fire Door Alliance. Third-party certification was an important milestone to give our customers confidence in compliance.
How do you predict trading conditions for 2026?
We expect slow growth during 2026, as a greater number of higher-risk buildings get through Gateway. The shift towards CCPI and bringing safer products to the market means there will be further scrutiny on compliance, which may mean some manufacturers have to invest heavily but ultimately will bring safer products to the market.