Council to spend £2.5m upgrading tower fire doors

CARDIFF council is to spend £2.5m upgrading the fire doors in its highrise tower blocks – and is considering retro-fitting sprinklers.

The doors in the council’s tower blocks only have approved fire resistence of 30 minutes.

But in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy the council is considering with replacing the doors in their high-rise blocks with doors designed to keep fire at bay for 60 minutes.

The authority has given approval for 2,850 flat front doors and 500 internal shed doors to be replaced. The 18 month project is due to begin in August 2017.

The city council is also considering an expensive proposal to retro fit sprinklers in older blocks that have never had them installed.

On Friday, Swansea announced it would retro

At a meeting of the full council on Thursday, council leader Huw Thomas was asked about the council’s response by former leader Llanishen Councillor Phil Bale.

Coun Thomas said that his cabinet had been briefed in the wake of the tragedy which is now known to have Council fit sprinklers. killed at least 80.

“We were briefed as a cabinet about the measures taken by the housing team in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

“The housing director is actively considering if we need to upgrade our doors from 30-minute resistance to 60 minutes.”

He told Coun Bale that the advice from the fire service is for doors which are fire resistant for 30 minutes.

The decision was made after the Grenfell Tower tragedy but a council spokeswoman said that the decision to upgrade doors at the low rise flats was part of a planned upgrade.

A council spokeswoman said: “The council is considering retro sprinklers in its high rise flats.

“In making any changes to existing buildings a number of practical issues need to be taken into account before any work is taken forward.

“As part of its ongoing improvement programme for existing housing stock, the council plans to upgrade fire doors at its low rise flats around the city.

“Following the recent tragic events at Grenfell Tower, a higher specification for doors at our high rise flats, to increase integrity to 60 minutes from the current 30 minutes, is also being considered and discussions are ongoing with our supplier.” fitting