Novus opens door to fire safety

Maintenance and refurbishment specialist Novus Property Solutions has replaced 172 communal fire doors across three Luton Borough Council accommodation blocks in work valued at £289,000.

In just seven weeks, a team of operatives removed and replaced doors across the 14-storey blocks on the Park Town estate, to ensure that the local authority buildings effectively compartmentalise fire in the unfortunate event of a blaze.

Directly employed Novus operatives and sub-contractors upgraded doors and frames to increase the amount of time in which fire would be contained. The doors and frames now give 30 minutes of resistance to the travel of fire, with all materials and products used by Novus being either fire resistant or fire intumescent.  

Every day throughout the work, eight doors were removed and replaced, so as to maintain compartmentalisation in each block overnight.  

Novus’ operatives worked in three teams, with one team ripping old doors out, one team fitting new doors and the final team trimming doors and completing the final inspection before handing them back to the council.  

Phil Exley, contracts manager at Novus, said: “We exceeded the client expectations for production and quality, handing each door set back to the council with minimal or no snags. We kept to the programme we had agreed with the client, and in fact finished the work with a whole week to spare.

“Our team built excellent working relationships with residents, with several residents even bringing the workers cups of tea at regular intervals. Most of the residents knew the operatives on-site by first name and enjoyed the communication.”

Ken Ballantyne, project manager at Luton Borough Council, said: “I was very pleased with the quality of service that Novus Property Solutions provided. The works were carried out in a professional manner, causing the least disruption to our residents.

“Although the program was ambitious, the resources were put in place to complete it within the set time-frame, without affecting the quality of works. I am satisfied with the service provided by them.”