Consumer Trends And Shifts For Fire Doors - How The COVID-19 Pandemic And Regulation Changes Boosted Demand

“Luckily, today fire safety is a topic not only experts and constructors, but also the end-consumer is interested in,” said Marc Husband, Purchasing Director at Leader Doors, one of the UK’s renowned door manufacturers and retailers. Over the last few years, there have been many changes in building regulations for flats, apartments and offices for fire safety. Any building with more than three floors needs to be equipped with FD30 rated 30-Minute-Fire-Doors, to ensure that in the event of a fire, escape is possible.

More options in fire-rated doors

Marc Husband said, “The regulation changes that happened in the last few years, led to a heightened interest in fire doors, both from professionals, as well as private individuals. This is a consumer trend we are very happy about. Since, the product ranges for fire-rated doors have massively expanded across different manufacturers and we continue to add more styles to our online and in-store offering.”

Currently, we have over 400 models of fire doors available in our internal door collection"

He adds, “Currently, we have over 400 models of fire doors available in our internal door collection. We are very happy to see that they have become more and more popular. I still remember that a few years ago, the only fire-rated doors you could buy as a normal consumer were these plain flush doors. They don’t look very nice and are quite dull and unpleasing, so a lot of home owners didn’t choose them.”

Fully finished Oak fire doors

Fire doors have a special core that will withstand fire for up to 30 or 60 minutes, depending on their rating. Traditionally, these doors were simple ‘firecheck’ flush doors, made of Ashwood. But with consumer behavior shifting, they come now in more modern materials, such as Oak. Furthermore, they come fully finished, so consumers don’t need to do much to fit them and can do it themselves.

It used to be a big challenge for architects, constructors and home owners, to combine fire safety with interior and decorating style. Many people chose aesthetics over safety. This isn’t the case anymore and a lot of doors now match standard doors, in style and aesthetics, as many door manufacturers now produce their most popular styles in a fire-safe version.

Fire doors, a cost-effective option for home owners

Marc Husband said, “This makes them far more attractive options and means that people can choose the most up-to-date and on-trend designs, to match all their doors right throughout the property. At Leader Doors, we also want to make sure that fire safety isn’t a luxury option. Some fire door models of our own product range start at as little as £50.”

He adds, “People still think that fire doors are only something for big, corporate buildings and that they are highly expensive. But, only heavy glazed fire doors, which have to go through a tailored construction, to ensure they remain fire resistant for 30 or 60 minutes, are still very expensive and not well suited for private homes.”

DIY home renovations rise in COVID-19 period

Even the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the business of fire doors

Even the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the business of fire doors. DIY home renovations have been a big trend, already a few years ago, but increased even further over the last two years. People were looking for activities that bring them joy and they wanted to improve their homes, where they now spend so much more time in.

Home owners wanted to save money and had more time at hand, so they started to renovate their homes by themselves. And, a lot of people documented their renovations on social media platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, which inspired other people to do the same.

Expanded fire safety doors range

With the changing consumer behavior and the recent trend for DIY home renovations, a lot of manufacturers and retailers widely expanded their whole fire safety range, in order to make it easier for constructors and individuals to fireproof their homes.

Marc Husband, Purchasing Director at Leader Doors, stated “One thing that we always remind our private customers about is that to ensure a fire door remains compliant, with all building regulations and fire safety, so they must be fitted with fire-rated frames and linings. This is what people often forget about. The growing demand had a big impact on our business practices and product offering. We started to manufacture our very own fire doors, as part of our in-house brand range.”

Fire-rated hardware

He adds, “We currently stock 29 different fire door styles of our own range, ten years ago, no one in the company would have believed that this would happen. But, ultimately, we want to ensure that our customers and their homes are as safe as they can be. So, we now even supply fire-rated hardware, like handles, latches, hinges or locks.”

Marc Husband concludes, “Our doors have never been safer. We will take this well into 2022 and beyond. We have a dedicated internal team that continues to push boundaries, to ensure our customers, from professionals to the private DIY-ers, are well educated about fire safety and have the very best choice available, anywhere online in the UK.”