The Guardsman Fire Door slab from ODL Europe is billed as a gamechanger for the 30- minute composite fire door market. The strength of its credentials is being reflected in the strong interest ODL Europe is seeing since it introduced the product in late 2020. Nathan Barr, Managing Director of ODL Europe, said: “The commercial sector is very interested in the Guardsman Fire Door for good reason. It offers reliable performance and consistent test results over and above anything else currently seen in the composite fire door market.”
The Guardsman’s performance – in both glazed and unglazed versions – has proved unrivalled. It has been tested to the European fire test standard of BS EN 1634-1:2008, the more onerous test standard required by Part B of building regulations. On average, the door has achieved a 100% overrun past the 30-minute mark. In some instances, it has achieved over 70 minutes.
This performance has been secured by going back to the drawing board on the door’s construction. The phenolic foam core typically used in a composite fire door manufacture has been replaced with more stable Agrifiber, which is a board material made from resin-bonded agricultural fibres. At the right density, the material provides the structural properties and stable fire resistance required. It is also a green building product, which will help specifiers wanting to maximise the environmental standards of a scheme.
The Guardsman door can be fabricated to a range of sizes from just two base designs, offering fabricators manufacturing economies. More importantly, it also helps to ensure the door still meets the required standards, even when assembled by different fabricators.
The door not only brings outstanding test results, it also brings the renowned quality of a Capstone composite door slab. It features hardwood stiles and rails and 2mm Capstone GRP skins, which means it is low maintenance and able to withstand the rigours of high-traffic areas.
The Guardsman Fire Door is the result of a six-figure investment by ODL Europe. The company worked with the engineers at its partner Capstone, the world-leading supplier of composite doors, as well as several experienced fire door fabricators.
ODL Europe is the company that builds value into building products. Its Guardsman Fire Door is the perfect example of this ethos in action. It’s hardly surprising it’s attracting a great deal of interest from the industry.
