Summary
• More FD60-rated fire doors were sold than might be expected.
• Sales of unglazed doors are still causing concern.
• The average price of a door leaf is rising.

Although the new housing sector picked up through the summer, the movement was more in houses than in the apartment blocks which had driven the rise in the fire doors market earlier in the decade, prompting British Woodworking Federation chief executive Richard Lambert to comment: “We’re not out of the woods yet”. “Public sector projects continue to underpin the market, and will continue to do so into next year,” he added.

“This quarter’s survey reinforces the trends shown in its predecessors. As in other areas of the joinery market, the largest companies, which depend on volume orders, are finding life toughest. The medium-sized companies in the sample have continued to find work, but they say that they have to run twice as fast to stand still. The higher proportion of FD60s than would normally be expected reflects the strength of non-housing work. And while it is pleasing to see an increase in the proportion of glazed doors, which suggests that companies are succeeding selling the added-value product, I’m still concerned by the strength of the sales of apertured but unglazed doors.

On-site work

“We know there is a hard core who determinedly ignore our advice not to glaze on site. Inevitably, the market supplies what the customer demands, but the growth of sales in this particular area has prompted an internal debate as to whether allowing the sale of doors which have been cut, but not glazed, is actually a contradiction within the control system. Questioning long-standing custom and practice creates a tension with the commercial imperative – not easy to resolve in times like these – but, as with similar issues in the past, it is something which must be addressed. Whatever the discussion may bring, the fundamental advice remains unchanged – don’t cut or glaze fire doors on site.”

The market analysis report undertaken by Rigby this quarter is based on interviews with 45 joinery companies in October. These were sampled by company size (in volume and number of employees) and region to ensure a balanced spread.

Quarterly market trends

The sample is made up of joinery companies carrying out further work on manufactured timber fire-rated doors without affecting the performance – for example, fitting vision panels or making frames to suit. It is made up to include companies certificated for these processes by the BWF-CERTIFIRE Fire Door & Doorset Scheme, companies certificated by other certification schemes, and companies whose alterations to fire doors are not covered by any certification scheme. The sample does not include prime fire door manufacturers. The charts shown here show joinery companies’ volume sales of timber fire doors and sales by door type, rating and customer base.

Just over 21,100 timber fire-rated doors were sold in July to September 2009 by the sample of companies interviewed. This compares with around 16,900 between April to June 2009 – and 70,100 in July to September last year. As the sample of companies interviewed is different each quarter, the volumes vary. However, the number of firms in each size band is always comparable. The table shows the percentage of total volume sales by company size and the total number of timber fire rated doors sold each quarter. The percentage of fire doors sold by large companies has declined significantly over the last two quarters.

The survey shows that 55% of timber fire doors that were bought-in by joinery companies were door blanks, while 45% were completed fire doors.

Timber doors with a 30-minute fire resistance continue to account for the majority of timber fire door sales (85%), while few doors with 90 and 120-minute resistance were sold.

Sixty-six per cent of timber fire doors were sold with a filled aperture, which includes vision panels, air vents and letter plates. This is a proportion that has been steadily increasing in recent quarters. Nine per cent were sold with an unfilled aperture and this segment has also seen an upward trend.

Most timber fire doors were sold as door leafs (61%) or door sets (32%), while only a small proportion were sold as door kits (7%).

Average prices

The average price of a door leaf was £122, a doorset was £348 and a door kit was £199. In 2008 the average price of door leaves fell but it has been higher in the last three quarters.

By customer, joinery companies mainly sell to building contractors – with almost three-quarters of their sales going to this group. Installers accounted for just over 10%, with the remainder going to joinery businesses, merchants or other companies.

Thirty-seven out of the 45 joinery companies interviewed this quarter (82%) reported selling timber fire-rated frames. From this sample over 12,500 timber fire-rated frames were sold in July to September 2009. This is higher than the second quarter but remains significantly below previous quarters. Sales ranged from 1- 3,000 timber fire-rated frames.

Of those selling timber fire rated frames, 73% were made in-house and the remainder bought in.

The Timber Fire Doors Report, a quarterly trends survey, is produced by Rigby Research and sponsored by the BWF-CERTIFIRE Fire Door and Doorset Scheme in conjunction with TTJ. For survey details or a free copy of the report call Neil Parsonson on 01453 521 621 – or read the full report FREE on the Quarterly Trends page at www.rigby-research.co.uk
© BWF and Rigby Research 2009