How real project challenges have shaped the fire doorsets that West Port manufactures
Every building brings its own requirements. Door sizes change. Glazing and ironmongery vary. So can the fire, smoke and security performance required. The challenge isn’t simply selecting a fire door. It’s specifying a complete doorset that suits the opening, is supported by the right evidence, can be manufactured consistently, and installed and maintained as intended.
When the brief goes beyond fire
Many of West Port’s developments have come from solving exactly that kind of problem. For one local authority, that meant unusually tall 2.7-metre fire doors with a bespoke glazed design, developed to achieve the required grey mottled laminate finish.
A different challenge arose for Wolverhampton Homes, an Arm’s Length Management Organisation (ALMO) managing around 19,000 homes on behalf of the City of Wolverhampton Council.
The wall itself was built using either 25mm or 35mm timber studwork, finishing at 52.5mm and 62.5mm respectively once plastered and with the architraves fitted. Both were too shallow for West Port’s standard 94mm frame, so a new 70mm frame was developed to suit. Wolverhampton Homes sponsored the subsequent fire testing, with two complete wall and doorset assemblies constructed and tested at Cambridge Fire to BS 476-22:1987 over two days. Required to provide 30 minutes of fire resistance, the 52.5mm assembly achieved 51 minutes, while the 62.5mm assembly achieved 54 and 56 minutes across its two doorsets. Even when the surrounding wall construction eventually gave way, the West Port fire doorsets were still holding.
That’s what bespoke manufacturing means in practice: understand the building, establish the performance required, then develop and validate a timber doorset solution within the scope supported by testing and assessment. For clients and specifiers, that approach provides greater confidence that the proposed solution is supported by evidence relevant to the actual project configuration.
The evidence has to cover more than fire
West Port has built an extensive portfolio of its own primary test evidence, supported by Field of Application assessments, covering FD30, FD60 and smoke-control applications across flat entrance, communal and utility doorsets and fire screens.
That breadth matters: door dimensions, glazing, ironmongery, seals and other components can affect performance. The investment in primary testing is deliberate, giving West Port greater control over the scope it can support and providing specifiers, contractors and building owners with a wider range of evidenced configurations from which to develop compliant solutions.
2026 marks 25 years of West Port working with Secured by Design, with its FD30 and FD60 front entrance doors holding security accreditation alongside their fire performance. Manufacture is also independently third-party certified by BlueSky and supported by ISO 9001-controlled processes and UKCA compliance, assuring consistent manufacture. The company is also a BWF and Fire Aware member and an LHC-audited manufacturer, recognised across the wider industry and public sector. Its fire doorsets are manufactured in Britain, with FSC® (FSC®C017295) and PEFC (COC- 853909) certification for traceable timber sourcing.
This capability underpins West Port’s partnerships with specialist installers. West Port develops and manufactures the doorset a project needs, while the installer brings the on-site relationships and technical understanding to deliver it across public and private- sector projects throughout the UK.
Complete before it reaches site
West Port manufactures fully factory-finished timber fire doorsets from its 175,000 sq ft factory. Each is CNC-machined for accuracy, with glazing and ironmongery fitted in-house, finishing carried out under controlled conditions, and the complete doorset checked before dispatch. This aims to reduce avoidable site variation and gives installers a more consistent, documented product, supported by installation manuals to help ensure it is installed as specified.
The complete fire door’s lifecycle
The regulatory direction since the Grenfell Tower tragedy, reinforced by the Building Safety Act, is towards demonstrable competence, controlled change, accurate records and traceable evidence. For fire doorsets, delivering tested performance consistently at manufacture is only part of the picture. Accurate information needs to continue through installation, inspection and maintenance.
A partnership with Contactless Check Solutions (CCS) supports that continuity. An RFID tag fitted at the factory links each doorset to a digital record containing its manufacturing data and supporting documentation. Installation, inspection and maintenance information is added throughout its life, creating a traceable record for inspections and audits, including Golden Thread requirements where they apply.
The next change is already under way
From 2 September 2029, subject to transitional arrangements, Approved Document B in England will stop referencing the BS 476 National Classes for fire resistance. For doorsets, that means moving to the European testing and classification route: EN 1634-1 and EN 13501-2.
For fire door manufacturers, the transition’s scale is significant, with ranges requiring new evidence to support specification under the European route. West Port is already progressing that work across its product families rather than waiting until the deadline. For customers and specifiers, that means greater certainty: the evidence needed to specify West Port doorsets under the new requirements is being built now, helping protect product choice and project continuity as 2029 approaches.
Fire Door Safety Week puts the focus on the fire door once it’s in a building. For a manufacturer, the work happens earlier. It starts with understanding what a project requires, establishing the primary test evidence to support it and making sure the doorset is manufactured consistently. That is proof in practice: not simply a fire doorset, but everything proven and controlled before it reaches site.
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