Contractor: Morgan Sindall
Client: Freemantles SEND School
Type of works: Manufacture of Fire Doors
Ahmarra manufactured over 130 bespoke timber doorsets for Freemantles SEND School in Woking, Surrey. The school provides specialist education for children and young people aged 4 to 19 years old that have complex social communication needs. The education they provide prioritises student emotional wellbeing.
The school’s current site opened in 2007 and was designed to accommodate a single cohort of pupils in each year group, with a maximum of nine pupils per class. Freemantles’ objective has always been to expand, so that they can accommodate two cohorts for all year groups. To achieve this, Morgan Sindall were contracted to build the school’s expansion, which now houses its secondary and FE provision.
Performance Requirements
Ahmarra worked with Morgan Sindall, Bond Bryan Architects and the school team to assist with the design and specification. Ahmarra manufactured a range of internal FD30s and FD60s Q-Mark certified fire doorsets and non-fire rated doorsets, as well as glazed side screens and internal windows for the new building. Classrooms designated as ‘quiet rooms’ also required acoustic doors with a 35 RwdB rating, in line with the Department for Education’s ‘Acoustic Design of Schools Performance Standards’.
Finger Guard Protection
The Department for Education’s School Output Specification (November 2022) also states that new doors in all areas used by young children – and throughout Special Schools – should feature finger guards to eliminate the risk of students trapping their fingers. As such, all doors feature a finger guard – a resilient blind that covers the gap between the hinge edge of the door and the frame. Robust aluminium housing protects the blind and prevents damage to it when it’s not in use.
Designed for Longevity
Designed to withstand heavy footfall, these doorsets incorporate a severe-duty 54mm thick construction throughout, are lipped on all four edges in solid oak for longevity and faced with impact-resistant high-pressure laminate (with built in anti-bacterial protection). As with all of our Education Range, these pre-hung doorsets were supplied with factory-fitted stainless steel ironmongery, including highly efficient Dormakaba cam-action slide-arm closers, ensuring full compliance.
Access Control
Access control was an important requirement for the school and they opted for surface mounted mag-locks operated by wall readers. Circulation and office doors can be opened by staff using a security fob, whilst classroom doors are operated using a fob from the outside and a push button from the inside.
Door Design
Committed to sustainable working practices, Ahmarra are FSC® certified (FSC C018847), and therefore all of these timber doors and frames support responsible forestry. The doors are faced with Polyrey’s D018 Chêne de Meymac wood-effect high pressure laminate, with the exception of the riser cupboard doors, which are faced with Polyrey’s B004 FA Blanc Lys laminate. All doors feature lacquered American White Oak semi-concealed lippings, and where the doors have vision panels, American White Oak cloak beading.
‘The staff and students are thrilled with our new school. Doors were identified as a key component of our project that we, as the School Leadership team, wanted to be involved with. Ahmarra were engaged from the early design stage through to completion of the project working with Morgan Sindall, Bond Bryan Architects and the installation contractor. Despite the doors being designed with robustness and safety in mind, they remain very easy to use and we believe this is due to them being made as complete doorsets.’
Karin Ferris
Business Manager at Freemantles School (2024)
Photos by Cannon Photos Ltd | www.cannonphotos.com
