As Fire Door Safety Week begins, UK
manufacturer Geofire is celebrating 45 years in the fire industry.
The company began life designing and manufacturing electromagnets for use in fire industry products in 1972, before producing its own range of hard-wired, fire door holders in 1989.
Geofire has continued to grow through its focus on research and development and its ability to design, manufacture and test its products under one roof. This has allowed the business to achieve both the quality required in the industry and empower its engineers to design the next generation of fire products that meet customer’s changing requirements.
In 2013, as sales grew, Geofire relocated to its current purpose built factory and has continued to invest in the latest CNC machinery, automation and testing facilities to ensure it maintains the highest quality standards.
Geofire was first to market with both its wire-free technologies; the Salamander radio-controlled and Agrippa, ‘listen and learn’ technology, sound-activated products, which are mainly used to retrofit into existing buildings. Both brands are battery-powered but are used to serve users with different requirements.
Andy Collinson, CEO of Geofire, explains: “What makes Geofire different is that we are constantly developing our products in the lab to ensure we are always ahead of the game when it comes to fire door technology.
“The team is rightly proud of what has been achieved over the last 45 years and we all excited about the future. We won’t stop, continuous improvement is part of our business and we have some exciting projects in the pipeline.
Nick Goddard, Research and Development Manager who has been an employee since 1994, said: “We are lucky to have a team that is always thinking about the next innovation and of course a management team that invests for the future in our people and their skills, as well as machinery and our manufacturing capabilities.
“Wire-free technology is something we have worked on for a number of years and as we see the market for wire-free technology widen to countries across the world, there is no doubt, despite some scepticism originally, that this technology has begun to build up a reliable and credible reputation for fire protection, in a much easier way than ever before.”
Geofire’s Salamander radio system receives radio signals from a central controller linked to an existing fire panel. It is also specified to the highest fire safety standard in the UK; BS 7273-4 critical actuation (category A).
The Agrippa sound activated devices automatically close fire doors upon hearing the sound of the fire alarm. It is different to similar products on the market because of the intelligent technology used to ‘listen and learn’ the sound of the building’s specific fire alarm, rather than simply a loud noise.
Geofire is part of the British Engines Group, which has seven engineering businesses across the North East of England and offices in 16 other countries worldwide.
