As the Summer Series of Assembly Point draws to a close, host George Edwardes, Technical Director at the FPA is joined by Dr Joanna Cloy, Senior Project Manager at environmental charity Fidra; and Professor Richard Hull, Professor of Chemistry and Fire Science at the University of Central Lancashire to discuss the toxic impacts of smoke, focusing on chemical flame retardants in household goods.
  
Dr Joanna Cloy and Professor Richard Hull highlight that these retardants, particularly in upholstered furniture, can be harmful to human and environmental health, causing issues like neurotoxicity and carcinogenesis. They draw focus to the need for government action, industry collaboration, and public awareness to address the challenges posed by chemical flame retardants.

The panel debate whether current regulations support improved life safety and discuss how these need to be updated to reflect modern fire scenarios. They also explore achieving net zero whilst ensuring fire safety is not compromised, emphasising the importance of the circular economy and chemical transparency in the future.

Listen to the penultimate episode of Assembly Point’s Summer Series as George Edwardes, Technical Director at the FPA welcomes Louise Clark, Policy Adviser at ABI to discuss the current landscape of cladding remediation from an insurer’s perspective.

George and Louise explore the need for a holistic approach to building design and construction that involves insurers early on to understand the insurance implications of material selection, the importance of resilience in the face of climate change, proactive risk management, and educating building occupants on maintenance. They also consider the role of regulation and enforcement, and ABI’s efforts to improve the availability of insurance for higher risk residential buildings through their Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility.

Listen to the latest episode of Assembly Point as George Edwardes, Technical Director at the FPA welcomes Adam Sanders, Technical Director of RiskBase; and Peter Thomas, Host of the My Safety Tech podcast and Founder of MySafetyConsultant.io, to discuss what the continuing development of artificial intelligence (AI) could mean for the fire safety industry.

The panel discuss the potential of AI, data availability, upskilling professionals, and addressing the risks associated with incorporating AI applications into fire safety; emphasising the need for consistent data collection and sharing, integrating AI with human expertise, and improving fire safety beyond human capabilities. Together they explore the potential for creating a digital twin of a building, a more consistent approach to fire safety standards, contextualised information, and risk-proportionate solutions.

Listen to the latest episode of Assembly Point as George Edwardes, Technical Director at the FPA is joined by Chris Miles, Commercial Director at the FPA; and Tom Gilbert, CEO at CLM Group to discuss some of the current challenges in the world of fire resistance testing and assessment methods.

The panel explore the importance of fire resistance testing and assessment methods, in particular the need for valid supporting test data, challenges in assessing complex construction designs, and the need for additional capacity in product testing. They also debate the potential impact of removing the national classifications (BS 476 series), the validity of 476 testing for fire doors, and the challenges of ensuring quality and trust in fire risk assessments. Their conversation highlights the need for improved regulations, testing capacity, and industry collaboration to provide appropriate fire safety in construction.

In the first episode of the FPA’s 2024 podcast series, George Edwardes, Technical Director at the FPA is joined by Dr Gavin Dunn, Managing Director at the FPA; and Eoin O’Loughlin, Associate Fire Safety Engineer at Arup, to discuss the implications of the zero carbon agenda for fire safety in the built environment.

With emerging new technologies, techniques and materials, and with many designers and construction professionals moving towards low carbon materials such as timber, George, Gavin, and Eoin discuss how to achieve high fire performance whilst reducing environmental impact. The panel also look at how, as an industry, we can address the growing gap between statutory guidance and social aspirations for sustainable buildings, including by re-using existing structures.

In the concluding episode of the 2023 series, Chris Miles, Commercial Director at the FPA is joined by the FPA's newly appointed Technical Director, George Edwardes; and Andy Miller, Loss Control Engineering Technical Manager at Allianz, to discuss a new fire safety assessment test for external cladding systems, RISC 501, that goes beyond the minimum life safety requirements set out in the building regulations to provide a classification that protects both occupants and property.

Following an FPA research project into real world cladding fires and how they correspond with fire tests, the panel explore the limitations of the current route to compliance from both a testing and insurance perspective, which led to the creation of RISC 501 due to be released by RISCAuthority (an annually funded research scheme administered by the FPA) in November 2023.

In support of the British Woodworking Federation’s Fire Door Safety Week campaign which aims to raise awareness of the critical role of fire doors, the FPA’s Commercial Director, Chris Miles takes a deep dive into the world of fire doors with Hannah Mansell, UK Group Technical Director at Masonite.

Together Chis and Hannah consider the importance and complexity of fire doors and look at the issues surrounding fire door compliance in the UK. Hannah provides insights from a manufacturer’s perspective into the challenges around ensuring fire doors are used correctly to maintain fire performance from manufacture through sourcing, installation and inspection, and minimising the distance between fire door manufacturers and residents.

In the second episode of the Summer Series, Chris Miles, Commercial Director at the FPA is joined by two guests who have been at the forefront of the proposal made by the Fire Sector Federation almost a year ago to develop a national strategy for fire safety. Executive Officer, Steve McGuirk CBE and Active Fire Protection Director, Tom Roche provide an update on the proposal and next steps. 
 
Together the panel look at how the white paper has been received over the past 12 months by both industry and government, the major progress points thus far, and the obstacles to be overcome. Steve and Tom provide insight in to how the Fire Sector Federation plan to work with the fire industry and construction sector to further progress the recommendations made in the document including its 3 priorities of competency, volumetric buildings challenges, and implications from innovative systems. 

In the first episode of Assembly Point’s Summer Series, the FPA’s Commercial Director, Chris Miles is joined by Paul Morell OBE, co-author of the recently published Independent Review of the Construction Product Testing Regime to identify any potential weaknesses in the system and make recommendations for improvement.

The two discuss the purpose of the government commissioned review and look at how the recommendations made in the report could provide greater assurance in the UK’s system for testing and certifying construction products. Chris and Paul also consider the shortcomings of the current system, its complexity and how it can be simplified, the conformity assessment process, and the procurement of compliant products.

In the concluding episode of Assembly Point Series 2, Chris Miles, Commercial Director at the FPA leads the discussion on the recent release of the Fire Sector Federation’s white paper on developing a national strategy for fire safety.

Chris is joined by Dennis Davis, Executive Officer of the Fire Sector Federation; Adam Turk, CEO at Siderise Group; and Amanda Long, CEO of the Considerate Constructors Scheme, Building a Safer Future, and the Code for Construction Product Information.

The panel discuss the drivers behind the creation of the white paper, and where it fits into the overall landscape for fire safety in the construction sector. They finish by looking to the future of the industry and the necessary steps to driving cultural improvement.