Kensington and Chelsea Council is gearing up to replace 4,000 fire doors in its social housing “as a matter of urgency”.
Councillors are due to consider a recommendation to replace the doors on Wednesday next week (6 June) at an estimated cost of £3.5m.
The move comes after a Metropolitan Police investigation informed the government that a fire door installed at Grenfell Tower, designed to resist fire for up to 30 minutes, as required by building regulations, failed after 15 minutes.
The government concluded that owners of buildings containing composite flat entrance fire doors manufactured by Manse Masterdor – a company that has not been trading since 2014 – should review their building’s fire risk assessment and consider how quickly the doors should be replaced, although housing secretary James Brokenshire said “the risk to public safety remains low”.
Nonetheless, Kensington and Chelsea Council, which was responsible for building Grenfell Tower in 1974, said it would press on with plans to make the changes.
A spokesperson for the council said: “This is a national issue. Manse Masterdor fire doors are used in social housing across the UK and a question mark hangs over their effectiveness.
“These doors had all been certified as safe and capable of resisting fire for at least 30 minutes, as required. However…the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government has recently tested a number of Manse doors taken from councils across the capital, including Kensington and Chelsea. They all failed fire safety tests and did not resist fire for the required 30 minutes.
“The secretary of state James Brokenshire has said all Manse doors across the country must to be replaced, but stated that ‘the risk to public safety remains low’.
“However, Kensington and Chelsea Council believes that the replacement programme must be started as a matter of urgency and as such councillors will next Wednesday (6 June) consider a recommendation to replace doors across the borough.
“All of the new doors will meet the 30-minute requirement but, given the issue with Manse Masterdor units, the council will send the new doors for independent testing so that we can be 100% sure the doors will resist fire for at least 30 minutes. Saving lives is our single priority. We are taking nothing for granted.”
