It’s once again a delight to showcase Pandor as our Bespoke Door & Panelling Company of the Month.
Pandor is a market-leading manufacturer of customised doors and panelling across the UK to sectors such as commercial buildings, offices, hospitals, flats and more.
Pandor has production facilities in Sittingbourne, Kent and offices in London. Their state-of-the-art production facility benefits from the latest advancements in modern machinery such as their 5 Axis CNC Twin Bed Router, CNC Moulder, automated saw, heavy-duty sanding machine, veneer flow line press and first-class lipping and edge banding. This ensures the highest-quality manufacturing and finishing on all products.
Established in 2014 by founder Mike Hill, Pandor has enjoyed a robust growth plan over the last decade, specialising in exceptional customer service and high-spec products. Mike has considerable expertise in the fire door industry spanning over forty years and has taken the time to focus on customer-centric best practice as he explains further, “What I hope stands us apart from our competitors is our approachable, personable manner – we listen carefully to our customers’ needs and adjust our manufacturing orders accordingly. We have many loyal customers, and they appreciate our quick delivery lead times, especially when larger manufacturing companies can take much, much longer to deliver orders.
“With this in mind, Pandor looks to provide clients with what they need, when they need rather than dictating dates to them. This is greatly appreciated and further strengthens our already-strong customer base.
“We offer made-to-order client requirements for fire doors, decorative doors, frames and other associated items such as screens, shopfronts and windows, with a speciality in certified fire doors and door sets.”
Fire doors are integral to optimised passive fire protection systems across industrial, commercial and domestic buildings in the UK. Precision-designed to mitigate against the spread of fire, smoke and toxic gases from one area to another, fire doors allow occupants, whether residents or workers extra time to evacuate accordingly. A secondary factor is that compliant fire doors give firefighters more time to arrive at the scene of the fire and control the fire, before it spreads further. Using a system of compartmentalisation, with fire doors lined throughout in corridors or stairwells, can create fire-resistant barriers in a high-rise block and importantly help slow down the spread of fire and smoke.
Following the fire at Grenfell Tower, North Kensington where 72 residents tragically died, the subsequent Fire Safety (England) Regulations in 2022 came into effect on 23rd January 2023. With all eyes on optimised fire safety, Pandor can manufacture customised fire doors, in accordance with FD30, 60, 90 or 120 certifications. Full back up with certification gives Pandor’s clients the reassurance that they need.
Fire doors are given FD ratings from 30, 60, 90 to 120, with FD30 being the most common choice. This typically gives 30 minutes fire safety protection, in the event of a fire.
Pandor’s fire doors can be laminated, painted or decoratively veneered and acoustic doors can also be fire-rated.
Across the industry, veneered panelling is not as popular as it used to be, with the current trend moving towards laminate and paint finishing instead. Our finishing shop has been upgraded to achieve the latest requirements.
All completed projects are archived in Cloud storage for future reference and Pandor offers full traceability on all company fire doors by fitting a fire plug. This allows surveyors later down the line to ascertain the supplier origin and come back to Pandor for prior measurements and details as required.
“A recent complex job involved an ‘oversized entrance door’ set for a mansion. (over nine feet or 2,750mm tall and 2,450mm or eight feet wide.) The frame had to be made in one – meaning it was too big for our usual processes. Creative improvisation was needed to ensure we could achieve the size and of course transport it safely to site. Another instance was for a government project where the door sets had been overlooked. We managed to supply the job a day ahead of schedule and the customer was delighted.
“We take great pride in all our certified fire-safety ratings. We recently tested a glazed timber door set for two hours in a laboratory furnace, for fire integrity. It went beyond the required 120 minutes to over 140 minutes, which is a huge achievement for fire safety and gives all our customers added reassurance.”
Mike admits that he is like a ‘dog with a bone’ when it comes to keeping on top of production dates and is proactive regarding any unexpected issues. Recently the company had some performance and reliability issues with an in-house key machine and Mike could foresee ongoing difficulties. Without delay, he ordered the latest model to ensure accuracy and punctual production times going forward. Now it is installed he is confident that accuracy and quality is assured.
Pandor supplies mainly to London and the Home Counties due to the transportation proximity to its manufacturing facility but can supply all over the UK.
With regards to sustainability best practice, Pandor can use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified softwoods and hardwoods from sustainable sources on request, with full traceability for our customers wherever required and further use water-based finishing products in the interests of the environment.
“Looking ahead to the future, Pandor has already been working hard to enlarge the range and scope of what it can manufacture and certify.
“We are always looking to enhance our in-house technical capabilities, pushing the boundaries on what we can make.
“We have invested in only the best machinery in the market. This allows us to maintain our market-leading position, with premium quality manufacturing. Our mantra is the three Q’s: quality, quality and quality every time.”
Here at Building & Construction Review, we would like to wish Pandor a Happy 10th Anniversary this year and look forward to seeing how the company evolves over the next ten years.
To find out more about Pandor’s full range, please see the website below:
T 0208 2797611
M 07909 530007
mike@pandor.ltd
http://pandor.ltd