BM TRADA Q-Mark fire door scheme member Baillargeon Doors Inc of Quebec has passed its annual surveillance audit without a single non-conformance. Furthermore, it has achieved exactly the same pass result in the audit test, demanded by Q-Mark, for the Blankfort door blanks covered by the scheme as it achieved in the initial type test when it became a Q-Mark member eight years ago. According to Chiltern International Fire Test Engineer Mark Cummings, who carried out the audit test this month, 'This underlines the absolute consistency of production of the Blankfort product, which again performed very well in the test.

'Blankfort door blanks have been selling in the UK and the Middle East for more than 10 years', said UK agent and technical consultant Bob Williamson.

The Q-Mark has been an important marketing tool for Blankfort, he added, especially as architects and other specifiers are now recognising Blankfort door blanks as 'technical products that provide solutions'.

Instead of being tied to a range of standard fire doors, Blankfort can be specified and then accessed by joinery manufacturers as well as specialist door manufacturers.

The fact that the Q-Mark is well established in other markets such as Dubai is another strong selling point.

Blankfort fire doors blanks are manufactured from laminated softwood cores with particleboard and/or MDF faces and are available with 30-minute and 60-minute fire resistance, both covered by the Q-Mark scheme.

Blankfort is currently the only laminated softwood-cored door blank product available to the joinery and specialist door sectors, now with the added benefit of Q-Mark certification.

The BM TRADA Q-Mark Timber Fire Door Scheme is a third-party certification scheme for fire door and door blank manufacturers, fabricators and installers, which demands consistency of production, usually achieved through a factory production control (FPC) system complying with ISO 9001:2000 or equivalent.

Regular factory audits are a necessary part of membership, as is audit fire testing of products randomly selected from the production line.