Potential £13m bill to replace fire doors in Kirklees

The council will have to replace 11,447 fire doors at 870 sites across the borough

Thousands of fire doors in council properties will have to be replaced at a cost of up to £13m, it has emerged.

A review by officers found doors installed across Kirklees in West Yorkshire between 2003 and 2012 did not have reliable fire safety certification.

The housing authority will need to refit 11,447 fire doors at 870 sites across the borough.

It will cost between £500 and £1,200 per door depending on size and type.

The problem was uncovered by an investigation by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), which had repeatedly challenged Kirklees Council to release an independent fire safety compliance review.

According to the LDRS, the council initially said the problem was due to a "recording error" by companies that supplied doors without the appropriate third-party test certificates required by local authorities.

However, since then, Cathy Scott, the council's cabinet member for housing, said the need to replace the doors was due to changes to regulatory standards in the aftermath of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.

"At the time of purchasing the current doors, they met the fire safety standards of that time, achieving a minimum fire resistance of 30 or 60 minutes on the outside face of the door," she said.

"Since the Grenfell tragedy in 2017, fire safety standards have undergone significant review resulting in an increased requirement for all fire doors to achieve 30 or 60-minute fire safety rating on both sides.

"Despite complete records of [the] current fire doors installed, we cannot, in all cases, say that they would meet current requirements," she said.

Councillor Cathy Scott said the doors had to be replaced after a change in safety regulations following the Grenfell Tower fire

Lib Dem councillor Anthony Smith said that if Ms Scott's account is correct then "almost every fire door in the country is now non-compliant".

"If this is the case then surely councils, housing associations and landlords across the country are facing the same issues and same huge programme of works and costs," he said.

"Is this the case? If not, what makes Kirklees' circumstances different?"

He added: "If we do have accurate records, then our current approach needs reassessing very quickly so we can make sensible and proportionate choices about how to move forward."