From wood waste to beautiful recycled furniture

CABE Member and Fire Safety Engineer Jason Hill MCABE C.Builde E CEng of Fire Consultancy Ltd is passionate about his company’s game-changing project to cut waste and boost skills, discovers George Martin.

Fire Consultancy aims to leave the world a better place than when we found it – we’re committed to industry education, supporting charitable causes and training the fire safety professionals of the future. Whether it is blocks of flats, commercial buildings, schools or any other type of premises, fire doors are regularly decommissioned and replaced.

With building safety checks increasing, more fire doors are being deemed not fit for purpose and removed. Sadly, many of them simply end up in landfill. After observing a large number of non-compliant fire doors in 2022, I began to conceptualise a company project that would see unusable fire doors reaching the end of their lifespan repurposed and reinvented. There would be so much wood waste if all these doors were just sent to landfill. What if they could be turned into furniture? Office products? Useful household items?

Dual purpose

But this was never just about producing products – I wanted this to be a learning experience. What if our work could be taught to students as well?

I’ve always felt that there has been a disconnect between the educational system and pathways to employment – those who haven’t necessarily studied for degrees for a variety of reasons can sometimes find themselves at a disadvantage.

I feel we can change that by providing education with a purpose. The Fire Door Furniture Company (FDFC) aims to create a space for people from different backgrounds to develop their skills while being paid and gaining recognised qualifications that could be attractive to potential employers. That’s how the idea for the FDFC was born.

Our company head office in Neath, South Wales, had a number of units on-site that could be acquired and turned into workshops. It took 18 months of discussions with the landowners, but we were able to secure them. With funding from the core business of Fire Consultancy, we invested in the woodwork machinery and tools we’d need to start working on our first ever products. Next, we needed to find dedicated FDFC staff with the skills to make it happen. This has been a challenge and, as we grow, it remains one.

Investing in people

We were fortunate to find two skilled craftsmen who responded to our advert for a cabinetmaker. One is a designer and a teacher (and we’re lucky to have him when he’s not working on film sets – I can’t say which ones, but we were pretty impressed with his CV). The other brings a wealth of experience and is very imaginative. I’m really impressed with what they both can do. This will allow us to have two teachers per student.

We’re always on the lookout for the right people who can deliver our sustainable vision and help build our educational programme. Our goal is to achieve approval from the Awarding Body of the Built Environment.

We’re just getting started. The programme is developing and we have our proof of concept. Once we have the formal accreditations/qualifications in place we’ll be able to fully launch and get students onboarded from routes such as referrals from mainstream education and applications. This will allow them to earn while they learn, which is a fantastic way to promote the scheme and allow students to gain self-confidence.

Great opportunities

Another piece of the puzzle involved letting companies know to send the doors to us rather than to landfill. We’re doing a lot of work on our website, Instagram and LinkedIn to raise awareness of the FDFC’s work, as well as recently exhibiting at the Institution of Fire Engineers’ International President’s Technical Conference. But to get off the ground, we’ve been working with our clients.

Put simply, it costs firms money to dispose of fire doors. Why do that when they can donate them to us? A lot of the buildings we work on are in refurbishment – we know they’d rather reuse materials than waste them, so we provide them with that option. This also promotes their own values of helping the environment and giving back to communities.

My advice to others who are considering doing something similar is to be prepared for a challenge. Something like this takes time and investment. You have to be ready and know that you’re in it for the long term.

That said, the experience is rewarding in ways that are hard to comprehend. While it is hard work, it doesn’t feel like work at all – it’s simply a pleasure.

When you go from an idea to a tangible outcome and start seeing the very first products getting made in the workshop, it’s a real sense of achievement. And nothing makes me happier than when others start taking notice of what we’re trying to build and are supportive. It’s been great to do something environmentally friendly, sustainable and positive. It demonstrates that we’re growing the business with environmental and social values – and that’s everything I’ve wanted this company to be.

See more about Fire Consultancy at fireconsultancy.co.uk/about-us
Find out more about the FDFC or buy recycled fire door products from the shop at fireconsultancy.co.uk/about-fdfc

Image credit | Fire Consultancy Ltd