Market Hill Fire Door Installation Programme

My role was to ensure that we engaged fully with the residents in each of the blocks to ensure they understood exactly what was going to happen to their homes, and to their communal areas when it was time for the new fire doors to be installed.  Just as important was my work with the site teams. The level of communication we established amongst all parties on the project was a huge factor in ensuring that we had only the smallest number of access issues and that the programme ran exactly to time.  This was so important to all parties – client, residents and us as the contractor on site.

I am delighted with the way the residents in all three blocks embraced the project and how they welcomed us onto the site to carry out these essential works which were designed to keep them even safer and more secure in their homes. I was equally delighted with the way our contract team kept me fully up to date with the progress of deliveries and the installation plan ensuring there were no surprises for the residents.  It was a model scheme in so many ways.

Collecting the resident’s feedback following the works showed us that they were really happy with the way we worked with them and with the products we installed.

All staff were polite and worked efficiently while observing covid 19 restrictions. They cleaned up after they finished working. Everything was explained in a clear and easy way

Picking up again on the challenges of the site Dean Bradford said, “As Alison explained, the excellent communication between all parties really helped us to keep access issues to a minimum, one of the greatest challenges we face when working in this kind of accommodation.

But of course the real unknown was how to come to terms with the challenges presented by the Covid pandemic, and how to work in a way which would give the residents in whose homes we were going to work the confidence that there would be no problems.

Following discussions internally we produced a very rigid set of conditions that we would work to to give residents confidence that we would be able to work safely in their homes, and at the same time keep our staff safe and secure as well.

Our site staff wore all the necessary PPE and fully sanitised their hands, cleaned their tools and disposed of any waste material in a safe manner before and after each installation. Our efforts worked perfectly and seem to have been really appreciated by residents on site.

The main part of the project was to replace existing residential fire doors with an updated version complying to the very  latest recommended standard.

Ongo Homes had previously installed fire doors on each flat and this project was designed to help their residents feel even more safe and secure by installing new ones which had been tested to meet the latest and most exacting requirements.

Through great supply chain management we were able to meet the exact requirements of the client’s project plan, and keep disturbance to the residents to an absolute minimum.

The doors installed are 60 minute fire rated, and fitted with closers and all the other hardware requirements to ensure that in the unfortunate event of a fire, they would provide residents with the protection they need to ensure their continued safety.

As well as the individual residential fire doors that were installed in each of the flats on site, we also had to install three new communal access doors on each of the 19 floors in each block.  These doors play a vital role in ensuring that residents remain safe and secure in their homes, and that fire cannot easily spread should one break out.

“While installing the individual resident’s doors was very important, installing these communal access doors was equally so” explained Dean.  “Often clients will focus only on the doors to flats, but Ongo’s vision was to make the blocks as a whole as safe as they could be”.

Our teams worked hand in glove with the residents to ensure that the disruption to the communal areas was kept to a minimum during the installation of the new access doors