ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions - Experts & Thought Leaders

For many different stakeholders in building design, construction, and management, security specifications can be a difficult, time-consuming task. Everyone from architects, developers, and contractors to security consultants, distributors, and even building inspectors benefits from trustworthy, transparent specification support for doors and related solutions.   Digitalization and personalized service When the goals are better buildings, safer building users, and happier customers, the answer lies in a combination of digitalization and personalized service.   A unified digital thread eliminates any confusion that can follow when stakeholders juggle multiple versions of documents. Personalized specification support ensures stakeholders select the right door solutions, project costs accurately, and minimize costly errors along the way. From design to handover, everyone works smarter.  Software tools and specification support  ASSA ABLOY specification experts can ensure fire safety and barrier-free accessibility are factored in From doors and door closers to wireless digital locking devices and complete digital access ecosystems, ASSA ABLOY has solutions for almost any building or opening. This vast range and breadth of project experience create uniquely broad-based knowledge, including about the latest innovations in low-impact mobile access and other energy-saving digital solutions.  ASSA ABLOY specification experts can ensure fire safety and barrier-free accessibility are factored into early versions of a design, for example. This helps building owners and investors to meet compliance and safety requirements directly from project initiation, saving time and stress.   Openings Studio™ ASSA ABLOY software tools such as Openings Studio™ help security security specialists and distributors specify accurately and manage stock efficiently. When a digital thread is maintained through building management, fire and safety inspectors complete their tasks time- and cost-efficiently.  Openings Studio brings projects together in one intuitive environment by creating a transparent digital platform where everyone contributes. For this reason, it is already deployed all over the world as a trusted design, specification, compliance, and ordering tool – for building projects of every size and type.  Benefits Deployed alongside personalized support from locally based ASSA ABLOY specification teams, it offers material benefits to every stakeholder.  Stakeholder #1: Architects  Openings Studio streamlines this without eating into the time architects need to focus on design To realize their vision for the final building, architects need everyone on the same page.  Efficient collaboration and effective management of communication help them stay in control of project quality and timelines. Openings Studio streamlines this without eating into the time architects need to focus on design.  Saves time “Openings Studio software introduced us to a whole new way of thinking and efficiency,” says David Zarhy, whose firm Zarhy Architects used Openings Studio for the Broadcom R&D Center at Tel Aviv University.  The project transparency and knowledge-sharing that ASSA ABLOY brings to security specification is also invaluable, saving time and preventing mistakes. With detailed specifications supplied digitally at an early stage, architects visualize door and security solutions accurately as soon as possible. This way, aesthetics, and usability are not disrupted by last-minute hardware surprises.  Stakeholder #2: Building Developers & Owners  Investors want to maximize and future-proof the ROI from their property portfolio. At the same time, they have a responsibility to ensure compliance on measures including barrier-free building access and fire safety. Personalised specification support helps them to weigh options, meet their legal obligations, and control ongoing property management costs.  To also meet the booming demand for green building accreditations, ASSA ABLOY offers in-depth support for developers seeking accreditation in six green building programs: BREEAM, LEED, Green Star, WELL, DGNB, and HQE.  Sustainability credentials Another welcome benefit for ownership, returns on investing in greener buildings can boost more than just the environment. According to property experts JLL, “Buildings with better sustainability credentials are achieving markedly higher capital values and rents.” They estimated improvements of 20.6% and 11.6%, respectively, in one analysis of BREEAM-certified premises for the UK office sector.  Stakeholder #3: Building Contractors  Working smarter with software and specification support ensures customers come back In the construction phase, more than any other, time is money. Hitting every deadline and budget directly impacts the bottom line. Working smarter with software and specification support ensures customers come back in the future, supporting a sustainable, profitable business.  The path from design to build is smoother when hardware data and deliveries are accurate, so all project changes must be communicated quickly along the stakeholder chain. Authoritative specification data Openings Studio ensures builders waste less time coordinating clients and suppliers – which means less disruption to their day-to-day work.  Site workers access authoritative specification data for every opening quickly via intelligent tags and QR codes embedded within Openings Studio, for example, which saves time and prevents mistakes.  Stakeholder #4: Security Hardware Specialists & Consultants  The best way to keep customers coming back is by delivering great service. For hardware specialists, this means specifying technical jobs quickly and accurately. Tools and support that help automate tedious manual tasks and enable slicker collaboration to provide an awesome efficiency boost. ASSA ABLOY delivers support through a network of local BIM and specification teams, each with specific knowledge about applicable standards and regulations.  Reusable and recyclable materials They supply products that are manufactured to eco-design principles and help reduce ongoing energy use.   Detailed, product-specific EPDs highlight the concrete benefits delivered by ASSA ABLOY’s investments in using more reusable and recyclable materials, and in embedding low-energy and eco-design principles across its operations, detailed information that will be essential when the European Performance of Buildings Directive is implemented in 2026.  Stakeholder #5: Distributors   Effective coordination and accurate quotes are made easier and faster with the help of Openings Studio Satisfying customers means shipping the right products, on budget and time, every time. To achieve this, staying on top of current pricing and specifications is critical, even when these are in flux because a project is evolving. Effective coordination and accurate quotes are made easier and faster with the help of Openings Studio software. Intuitive tool Part of a longstanding collaboration with SWEDOOR in Denmark, a large project for Østre Landsret, the High Court for Denmark’s Eastern region, was streamlined with the help of Openings Studio. This intuitive tool underpinned door meetings, ensuring efficient decision-making and component delivery for every closer, lock, and cylinder.   Safe and secure In Denmark and elsewhere, Openings Studio has become the focal point of collaboration between ASSA ABLOY, SWEDOOR, locksmiths, building contractors, and architects.  According to Per Løvstad, Sales Manager at SWEDOOR JW Denmark, “Cooperation consists of a total review of the entire door project, door by door so that our mutual customer feels safe and secure that the doors and the entire package fit together. I can only recommend this collaboration to anyone who has to go through larger projects with doors and fittings.”  Stakeholder #6: Building Inspectors   Entrusted with making sure buildings are safe for users, inspectors need transparency in fire, safety, and accessibility compliance. In the past, this meant manual updates and endless spreadsheets – carried everywhere, even out of the office. “With Openings Studio, you no longer need to rely on paper or spreadsheets to manage doorset data,” explains Marc Ameryckx at ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions EMEIA. “It’s all digitally managed in one place over the life of the building, which saves everyone’s time.” Openings Studio helps to maximize the effectiveness of inspections by safeguarding a reliable, up-to-date source of specification info and making it available on demand – even on an inspector’s mobile phone.   Fire inspections The mobile app equips inspectors with powerful, speedy, and transparent reporting tools Doorview, who conduct fire inspections in the London area, uses Openings Studio to speed up their work. “The Openings Studio app allows us to instantly share fire door inspection reports with our clients,” explains Doorview’s Jody Purcell. The mobile app equips inspectors with powerful, speedy, and transparent reporting tools by leveraging the same information from the design phase through to the maintenance of the completed structure.  Remedial action list The app also helps Doorview implement a remedial action list, which reassures the client that their building is compliant and safe. Maintenance staff can upload a photo when any required refits are complete. Working digitally with Openings Studio assures the transparency of this process.  “Because specification and BIM teams are based at locations spanning ASSA ABLOY’s global network, they bring experience and expertise on local issues, standards, and certifications,” adds Marc.  Digital collaboration “With digital collaboration in Openings Studio – plus dedicated specification support from a global team of local experts – ASSA ABLOY can help you transform the way you work." "You will deliver faster, better projects, hitting budget targets and meeting the needs of building managers and users, now and far into the future.”

To help support the Fire Door Safety Week 2021 campaign, ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions UK & Ireland has announced the launch of a new best practice guide - ‘Fire Doorsets’ guide, on how to specify, install, maintain and inspect fire-certified doorsets in residential and commercial buildings. ‘Fire Doorsets’ guide The ‘Fire Doorsets’ best practice guide has been compiled, based on the knowledge and expertise of ASSA ABLOY’s FDIS-trained inspectors, as well as key insights, and information gathered from a range of third-party accreditation bodies, and trade associations, including the Door and Hardware Federation (DHF), the Fire Industry Association (FIA) and Secured By Design (SBD). The practice guide is intended to help all those responsible for fire safety in residential and commercial buildings The best practice guide is intended to help all those responsible for fire safety in residential and commercial buildings, such as architects and specifiers, installers, landlords, local authorities, building owners, and facilities managers, particularly at a time when fire safety is in the spotlight, due to the national Fire Door Safety Week 2021 campaign. Fire Door Safety Week 2021 campaign Scheduled to run from September 20 - 26, 2021, the Fire Door Safety Week 2021 campaign hopes to raise awareness of the critical role that fire doors play in saving lives and protecting property. Established by the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) and supported by the BWF Fire Door Alliance, the awareness campaign illustrates why it’s crucial to understand the factors that ensure a fire door performs as intended, with product manufacture, quality, installation and maintenance, all playing a part. Eryl Jones, Managing Director of the ASSA ABLOY Door Hardware Group, said “The correct specification, maintenance, and management of fire doors can be the difference between life and death for people, not to mention the damage fires can cause to property and valuables. In our new ‘Fire Doorsets’ guide, we tackle all considerations, throughout a fire doorset’s lifecycle.” Empowering fire safety personnel He adds, “From standards, certification, and security, to their design, specification, and installation, right through to their ongoing usage, maintenance, and inspection, our intention is to help empower those responsible for fire safety, with everything that they need to know.” Some of the statistics surrounding fire safety in the United Kingdom (UK) are staggering" Eryl Jones further said, “Some of the stats surrounding fire safety in the UK are staggering. There are 20,000 commercial fires in the United Kingdom every year. Research suggests that the economy has lost £1 billion in GDP and 5,000 jobs from preventable fires in commercial properties. One study found that larger fires in schools cost on average £2.8 million to repair and in some cases, as much as £20 million.” Fire doorsets play critical role in protecting life, property He adds, “Last year, a Freedom of Information request responded to by 147 UK local authorities, found 63 percent of planned fire door maintenance and the replacement did not progress, as scheduled. It’s clear that there’s still plenty of work to be done around improving awareness of the critical role that fire doorsets play in protecting life and property.” Eryl Jones concludes by stating, “We hope our new guide acts as an invaluable resource for those tasked with fire safety in buildings, ensuring everyone throughout the doorset’s lifecycle plays their part, in upholding the highest fire safety standards.”

UNION is urging security installers to ensure they are ready for the new UKCA mark, which is replacing CE marking for products sold in Great Britain. This includes products such as fire-resistant and emergency locks, panic exit devices and door closers. The UKCA (UK Conformity Assessed) marking is the new product marking system that will be used for goods being placed on the market in Great Britain. It covers most goods that previously required the CE marking. CE marked products From 1 January 2021, all new products launched in Great Britain must be UKCA marked, with the CE mark no longer being recognized in the UK from 1 January 2022. For existing CE marked products, there will be a ‘coexistence’ period until 31st December 2021, where these goods can continue to be sold in Great Britain until then. UKCA marking must be undertaken by a UK-recognized ‘approved body’ During this timeframe, it is expected that manufacturers will take steps to ensure existing CE marked products will have the UKCA mark applied in time for 1 January 2022, when the CE mark will cease to be recognized in the UK. UKCA marking must be undertaken by a UK-recognized ‘approved body’. An EU notified body, which would previously have been called upon for CE marking, cannot be used for UKCA marking. Northern Ireland protocol To meet this need, UNION is already taking measures to ensure all the relevant UK product marking deadlines are met. The company is ensuring all of its new products launched into Great Britain from 1 January 2021 will be certified using a UK approved body and have the UKCA mark applied. Then, for its range of existing CE marked products, UNION is already progressing UKCA marking for these solutions too, ensuring they are properly certified in time for the 1 January 2022 deadline. All relevant documents, such as labels, product packaging, marketing materials and instruction manuals, are being updated accordingly as well. It’s important to note that products being sold in Northern Ireland will be subject to a different set of criteria, covering UKNI and CE marking under the Northern Ireland Protocol. Door opening solutions It is everyone’s responsibility throughout the supply chain to ensure that properly certified products are specified" Richard Bromley, Business Development Director at the ASSA ABLOY Door Hardware Group, said: “Understanding the new rules and regulations surrounding the UKCA mark, and the deadlines when CE marking will no longer apply for products sold into Great Britain, can be a lot for security professionals to get their heads around. As such, we want to reassure our customers that they can have every confidence that our products will be properly certified to the appropriate UK product marking standards, meeting the fast-approaching UKCA and UKNI deadlines.” “Nevertheless, it is everyone’s responsibility throughout the supply chain to ensure that properly certified products are specified. As such, we would urge security installers to make sure they do have a solid understanding of what the correct product marking entails and the timescales that are being worked towards.” “It is vital that security products and door opening solutions with the appropriate product marking are being specified and installed. If you do have any questions or concerns surrounding the new UK product marking, then please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will be more than happy to go over these with you.”

Last year saw a 14 per cent increase in fires in England, according to UK Home Office statistics. And while around three million fire doors are installed in the UK every year, a lack of understanding during operation, maintenance and management of fire doors is still apparent. In this article, David Hindle, Head of Door Closer Sales at ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions UK & Ireland, will address this issue. Importance of fire doors Fire doors are often the first line of defense in a fire, yet even after the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017, fire door hardware remains a significant area of concern. In May 2018, an Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, led by dame Judith Hackitt, have been published. The review highlighted a range of issues, but the message stood clear, the UK’s current approach to fire safety in buildings is not functioning as intended and a new, holistic approach to fire safety is required. Review of fire inspections In all fire inspections, there is a responsibility from the building owner to include checks on the fire doors In all fire inspections, there is a responsibility from the building owner to include checks on the fire doors. However, there is no legal requirement for them to complete any recommended upgrades or repairs, or to prove that they have done so. This represents a major problem, as doors that do not perform to the required standard could compromise a building’s safety and put occupants at risk. Ultimately, this could lead to liability being assigned back to the building owner or facilities manager. Need to maintain fire safety standards Fire safety is only properly maintained if standards and checks are carried out throughout the lifecycle of the product and building. This is best addressed through regular inspection, maintenance and the replacement of products when required. A review by the Fire Door Inspection Scheme revealed the most common fire door faults, ranging from missing fire or smoke seals, to unsuitable hinges and damage to the door leaf itself. Any one of these issues can render a fire door useless and can seriously impede a door’s capability to protect people from harm. Door leaf and frame maintenance Fire door hardware is often not afforded the attention it requires and is left mismanaged throughout its service life. So what needs to be done to ensure fire door hardware is working as expected? Naturally, the door leaf should not be damaged, warped or twisted, and it is vital to ensure the fire door closes correctly around all parts of the frame, with no distortion between the stiles, top and frame. Gaps between the door and leaf must not be greater than those specified in the manufacturer’s installation instructions or fire certificate data sheet, typically around 3 to 4mm all the way round. Importance of door closers A door closer ensures a fire door returns to its fully closed position and the door seals correctly in the door frame A door closer ensures a fire door always returns to its fully closed position and makes sure that the door seals correctly in the door frame, when not in use. There are three steps to ensuring these components are working correctly. First, open the door fully and check that it closes without dragging across the floor. Next, open it to approximately 5-10 degrees and again check that it fully closes, engaging any latch or seal. Finally, check the door closing speed is approximately five seconds from a 90 degree angle, ensuring the door does not slam shut. Intumescent fire and smoke seals Fire and smoke seals should be in good condition, fit the full length of the door and be secure in the groove. If seals are badly fitted, damaged or painted, then they must be replaced with exactly the same size and intumescent material that was originally specified. If the smoke seals have to be replaced, then they should be fitted in one continuous length, if possible. To ensure hinges are in good condition, check for visible wear, dark marks or stains around the hinge knuckle that could indicate wear and impending failure. Hinges must be strong enough to carry the door mass, plus robust enough to work efficiently no matter the level of usage. The hinges should be firmly screwed into the door and frame, ensuring that the seals at the top and sides of the door are not damaged or missing at any time. Intumescent pads should also be used with hinges, as these are required for the door to get its appropriate fire rating. Locks and lever handles To measure a handle’s condition, one needs to ensure the lock lever fully returns to a horizontal position after use Wiping any metal dust deposits off the handles will help ensure that the latch-bolt is engaging smoothly and completely into the keep during use. To measure a handle’s condition, one needs to ensure the lock lever fully returns to a horizontal position after use. If it does not, the lever may, at best, need adjusting or lubricating. At worst, it may need replacing, as per the manufacturer’s instructions. Again, ensure the lock case is protected by intumescent material. Maintaining record of fire door inspection No matter the component, a record of inspection and maintenance should be kept for all door hardware. Furthermore, those responsible for ensuring the fire safety of a site should encourage others to report any issues with any of the door components. Faults should be fixed as soon as possible, using the correct and fire-rated components. To check the compatibility of components, always consult the fire certificate data sheet or contact the manufacturer.