Born from challenge to now provide opportunity
It’s been a long and valuable journey for the Firestop Centre, going from being a distributor of passive fire protection products and systems to today also having many products under the Firestop brand.
Previously, two leading industry brands had entrusted Firestop Centre to promote and sell their fire-rated duct wrap in New Zealand. However, the partnership with the only two companies with the necessary compliance evidence to provide such systems ended with one manufacturer withdrawing their duct wrap from Australasian markets due to expiring compliance documents that they chose not to renew. Shortly after, the second manufacturer unexpectedly redirected their product to a competitor – “an abrupt shift that felt sudden to the team”.
“Faced with these challenges, we accepted the change and immediately started to develop and test fire-rated duct wrap solutions under our own Firestop brand. The team had considerable leverage: years of experience selling duct wrap and working with all HVAC-relevant industry stakeholders. We wanted to design and supply a range of robustly tested systems unavailable from other brands, eliminating the guesswork they had to contend with previously,” says Greg Hand, Firestop Centre director.
This marked the beginning of an intensive testing programme. The team dedicated themselves to system design, often collaborating late into the night and discussing every detail such as fixing methods, sealant applications, and the optimal number of duct wrap layers.
This hard work paid off, and today the Firestop Centre offers what the company describes as the largest range of certified fire-rated systems for ducts of all shapes, including circular ones (previously untested in Australia and New Zealand). The company conducted eleven fire-resistance tests on Firestop duct wrap-38 and several more on Firestop duct wrap-25, a thinner and more affordable option for smaller diameter ducts such as kitchen exhausts.
“During that turbulent change, we overcame challenges, developed superior fire-rated duct wrap solutions with robust local compliance, and significantly expanded its market opportunities,” says Hand.
Sponsored content: For more information call +64 9 483 400, email info@firestopcentre.co.nz or visit www.firestopcentre.co.nz.