Growing awareness of security risks and building safety requirements has increased demand for fire doors that deliver both protection against attack and compliance with fire safety regulations.
Rob Mottram, Head of Product and Compliance at Robust UK, explores how modern steel fire doors can meet evolving security requirements while maintaining certified fire performance.
Why Is Steel Suitable For Fire Doors?
“Steel has become the preferred material for fire doors due to its exceptional strength, durability and resilience. Unlike alternative materials, steel maintains its structural integrity even under extreme heat, making it an ideal choice for fire-rated doors and doorsets. During a fire, steel fire doors are designed to resist warping, cracking and structural failure, allowing them to act as an effective barrier that slows the spread of flames, smoke and hot gases.
Alongside their fire-resistant properties, steel fire doors offer superior impact resistance and long-term durability. Their robust construction enables them to withstand heavy use in high-traffic environments, including commercial buildings, healthcare facilities and educational settings. Unlike timber doors, which can weaken at joints, deteriorate over time and often require regular repainting, treatment and refinishing, steel is less susceptible to wear, moisture damage and deformation. This helps maintain performance, reliability and safety throughout the lifecycle of the building.
Manufactured from Magnelis® steel, our doorsets require minimal maintenance without compromising on appearance. This enables customers to achieve both their brand aesthetic objectives and architectural design requirements. An anti-corrosion warranty of up to ten years provides additional reassurance that the doorset will not degrade prematurely and will remain in excellent condition for the long term.
As a result, steel fire doors provide a dependable combination of certified fire protection, durability and security, making them a practical solution for meeting modern building safety requirements.
Combining Fire Resistance With Security Performance
Steel doorsets can be tested to EN 1634-1 and certified to provide up to 240 minutes of fire resistance, helping maintain safe evacuation routes and effective compartmentation throughout a building. These fire resistance tests measure a door’s ability to maintain integrity over a specified period. Where enhanced security and fire protection are both required, selected steel doorsets can deliver both within a single fully tested and certified solution.
However, these performance requirements cannot be achieved simply by combining individual fire-rated and security-rated components. A fire doorset must be tested, assessed and certified as a complete system to ensure that both fire and security performance are maintained. Any weakness in either aspect can compromise the overall integrity and effectiveness of the doorset.
There is a wide range of fire-rated steel doorsets available to suit different building applications. For example, our market-leading steel fire exit solution, OUTA-DOR, provides up to four hours of fire resistance, delivering maximum fire protection while helping ensure safe escape routes during emergencies.
OUTA-DOR THERM provides up to 60 minutes of fire resistance while achieving a thermal performance of 1.5 W/m²K. This combination makes it particularly suitable for external applications where certified fire protection and improved thermal insulation performance are both required.
Delivering More Than Compliance
Selecting steel fire doors can deliver benefits that go beyond simply meeting Building Regulations.
By choosing fully tested steel doorsets that combine certified fire resistance, enhanced security, long-term durability and the correct hardware specification, building owners can improve both occupant safety and overall building performance for years to come.”
Expert Advice
For more information about fire-rated steel door solutions, third-party tested to achieve up to 240 minutes fire resistance, visit our Fire Doors page here.
For further guidance on specifying steel doorsets, contact us on 01782 592900 or email .
