Ahmarra is a leading UK specialist in fire doors for healthcare environments, having manufactured and installed thousands of bespoke doorsets for NHS hospitals across London and the South East. With over 30 years of experience, Ahmarra has developed sector-specific ranges to simplify design decisions and specification, including their Healthcare Range, suitable for hospitals, health centres, care homes and medical research facilities.
Fire doors in healthcare settings must meet a variety of stringent requirements. These include certified fire & smoke protection, acoustic performance, enhanced durability, infection control, compatible ironmongery, accessibility features, and in some cases, wayfinding elements integrated through the colour of the door facings.
Certified Fire Protection
Given the nature of the hospital environment, where many users are vulnerable and/or incapacitated, fire doors are vital in containing the spread of fire. They maximises the time staff have to facilitate safe evacuation, whilst minimising damage to the building and its valuable medical equipment it houses. Ahmarra’s fire doors are third-party certified under the BM TRADA Q-Mark Fire Door Manufacture scheme, and are available with FD30s or FD60s primary fire test evidence, ensuring the highest standards of safety and reliability.
Acoustic Performance
Doors play a crucial role in minimising noise transfer between wards, enhancing the patient experience, and fostering an environment conducive to restful recovery. In healthcare settings that are operational 27/7, effective sound insulation is achieved through carefully engineered door cores and optimal seal arrangements. The Healthcare Range offers doors with acoustic ratings of 32 RwdB or 35 RwdB, with non-acoustic options also available. For higher acoustic performance, high-pressure laminate and veneered faced doors are available with acoustic ratings of up to 43 RwdB.
Enhanced Durability & Longevity
This robust range has been meticulously engineered for longevity. Doors can be encapsulated with 2mm thick impact resistant PVC-u facings, glazing beads and frames, as well as replaceable hanging and leading edge protection, ensuring long-term durability and minimal maintenance. Alternatively, the doors can be faced with Polyrey’s high-pressure laminate, which provides resistance to impacts, scratches, and stains.
Designed to withstand the demands of a high-traffic healthcare environment, these heavy-duty doorsets offer superior resilience to frequent impacts from hospital beds and porter trolleys moving between wards. They are also available with protective plates for added durability. The doors feature lippings – solid wood trims applied to all four edges – providing extra protection to the severe-duty core.
Ahmarra will provide facility management teams with a comprehensive replacement parts list and offer training for your staff to perform essential checks and maintenance. This will enhance the performance of your doors, extend their lifespan, and ensure they retain their fire certification.
Infection Control
To protect patients, staff, and visitors from hospital-acquired infections and to maintain a hygienic environment, Ahmarra’s Healthcare Range doorsets can be faced with Polyrey’s Sanitized® high-pressure laminate or PVC-u Hygienilac® wrapping. These facings incorporate an anti-bacterial compound throughout the material during manufacturing, rather than as a surface coating. This biocide effectively eliminates 99.9% of bacteria within 24 hours, helping to prevent the spread of infections like C. difficile, MRSA, Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli.
Pre-hung Doorsets with Compatible Ironmongery
These pre-hung fire doorsets are supplied with all essential hardware components – such as ironmongery, glazing systems, seals, etc – factory-fitted as standard. Each doorset comes with a single fire certificate, ensuring full compliance with Building Regulations. Additionally, access control options can be included.
Accessibility
Ensuring equal access for people with disabilities is a key requirement in public building design. The British Standards Code of Practice (BS 8300-2:2018) specifies that, to meet the accessibility needs of visually impaired individuals, a Light Reflectance Value (LRV) contrast of at least 30 points must exist between building surfaces and their surrounding areas. To achieve this, coloured laminates and PVC facings can be used to clearly distinguish doors, frames, ironmongery, and their surroundings.
As an added safety feature, Ahmarra’s PVC-u encapsulated doors can be supplied with edge protectors featuring a coloured strip along the leading edge, which is the edge of the door that users come in contact with when opening it.
Wayfinding
Navigating large hospitals can often be challenging, therefore, doors can be designed with different coloured facings as a method of colour coding the wayfinding system.
Installation Service
As part of Ahmarra’s supply and fit packages, they offer a Q-Mark Fire Door Installation service. With extensive experience in operational environments, Ahmarra’s installers prioritise minimising disruption while working respectfully around the needs of building users. The team is accredited by the CHAS Contractors’ Health and Safety Scheme and SafeContractor, and all installers hold a valid CSCS card. This ensures a safe working environment while mitigating supply chain risks.
Specification Process
Ahmarra provides a wealth of resources designed to assist with specifying fire doors for the healthcare sector. These include detailed guidance on third-party certification, fire & smoke ratings, sound reduction, door handing, cores, vision panels, access control, finger protection, frames & architraves, and decorative finishes, all available on their website: https://ahmarra.co.uk/sectors/healthcare/.
Doors can be easily specified via their online L20 Specification Tool within minutes, or through NBS Source.
Their friendly and experienced specification team are also on hand to offer industry-leading advice at every stage of the process.
For more information, contact the team at 02392 389 076 or email sales@ahmarra.co.uk.