Town Hall to investigate mislabelled fire door at 18-storey block in London Fields

Welshpool House. Photograph: Julia Gregory

An investigation is underway to find out why a fire door in the stairway of a Hackney tower block was mislabelled.

The communal door on the second floor of Welshpool House in London Fields was sticking when the Citizen visited to discuss fire safety with a resident.

The door was labelled as ‘FD60(S)’ on one side, meaning it can withstand fire and smoke for an hour, whilst the other side was wrongly labelled ‘FD30(S)’, meaning it could only resist flames for 30 minutes.

The resident from the 18-storey block said: “This labelling is strange and we’d like to know what happened.”

The other communal stairwell doors were all labelled correctly.

A Town Hall spokesman said: “Quality checks are carried out throughout the installation of all fire doors in Hackney Council blocks.

“While the door is the correct specification it appears to have been mislabelled. It is an issue we have raised with our contractor, and they are investigating to seek to prevent it happening again.”

The council said it has also fixed the problem of the door sticking open.

Fire door makers Gerda Security said the sixty-minute doors were fitted in Welshpool House in 2011.

The company said: “The door sets are complete door sets which go through extensive full-scale fire and smoke tests as well as acoustics and the signage on the door sets was applied at point of manufacture.

“All products follow a strict quality control process at each stage of manufacture.”

The doors also go through third-party certification.

The door, wrongly labelled as ‘FD30(S)’. Photograph: Julia Gregory

A spokesperson for Gerda said the signage in a photograph provided to it by the Citizen “looks as if it may have been removed or replaced at some point”.

The company spokesperson added: “Now that you have alerted us to this, we will endeavour to contact London Borough of Hackney and advise them of the signage that you have highlighted.”

Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, cabinet member for housing, said: “We investigate any reports of issues with fire doors and following this enquiry we have fixed the door reported as sticking.

“Welshpool House is due for its quarterly health and safety check next week when we will carry out our regular checks on all the fire doors.

“Any issues found will be rectified as soon as possible to ensure residents can continue to feel safe and secure in their homes.”

The new Fire Safety Regulations Act requires communal doors on buildings taller than 11 metres have to be checked every three months. This is part of tougher fire regulations brought in following the fatal Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.

Commenting on the issue, the Gerda spokesperson said: “It is most important that the fire door sets are maintained correctly as designed, tested and manufactured.

“We do recommend maintenance in line with Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and we do offer a maintenance service; however organisations may make their own arrangements for maintenance.”

The council said it takes fire safety seriously and carries out regular checks of its doors, as well as Fire Risk Assessments.

Hackney’s fire team checks more than 5,000 doors every quarter.

The council said: “While the difference on the door labels appears to have been missed during the last check, the certificates provided by the contractors show that the door is an FD60.

“We have checked the door again ourselves and can confirm it is the FD60 but has been wrongly labelled.”

A gate on a nearby road. Photograph: Julia Gregory

Welshpool House residents also raised concerns about gates on roads leading off Broadway Market after a fatal house fire on Dericote Street in January.

They said it can get very busy on market day, along with Welshpool Street, and they are concerned about access for the emergency services.

One resident said: “Someone put a bike lock around the gate and they had to break the lock. People also park in front of the gates.”

The council said it did a walkabout with firefighters and introduced restrictions to ensure vehicles cannot load up or wait on Welshpool Street. It also increased patrols to dish out fines to motorists ignoring the rules.

“We have also installed panels to help deter bikes from being locked to the gates to further ensure quick access to the block if needed,” the Town Hall said.

Leaseholders at Welshpool House have also questioned why they face bills of around £3,250 for a new fire door to their flats.

One of them claimed fire doors are available cheaper, adding: “I would really like a new door, but I do not want to pay that much for it.”

A council spokesman said it has a “rigorous testing and tender process to ensure that all the doors being fitted on our blocks meet the government’s higher standards for smoke and fire resistance and to ensure they provide value for money”.

“This is to ensure the front doors of homes in our blocks can withstand 30 minutes of intense fire and smoke (the current standard) and are self-closing, which enhances fire safety because, in the event of a fire, someone escaping can’t accidentally leave a door open.”

He added: “While there may be cheaper doors available, these may not be of the necessary high standard required to provide the protection needed for residents in the block.”

He said leaseholders should speak to the council’s home ownership team to discuss payment plans.

Leaseholders are not charged for new flat doors under 15 years old.  They will be charged to replace newer doors or if they have fitted them and they do not meet the new rigorous standards.