The Fire Protection Association Director of Training and Digital Services, Claire Wright kicks off series 2 by talking to Jane Duncan OBE, Chair of the RIBA Expert Advisory Group on Fire Safety, and Clive Johnson, Group Head of Health and Safety at Derwent London PLC. The panel discuss the competency requirements at each stage of the design and construction of a building and how these can be met. This episode also highlights key elements that need to be considered by all groups involved in the design, construction and maintenance of a building to ensure safety for the occupier.

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.

In our second episode of the series, Howard Passey, FPA Director of Operations is joined by Nick Coombe, Vice Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Protection Committee & NFCC lead on Building Safety; Andy Frankum, Chair of the National Social Housing Fire Strategy Group, and Steve Emery, Fire Officer at Oxford University to explore vulnerable risks, specifically looking at social housing, care homes, educational settings, and the impact on evacuation strategies.

In the latest episode of Assembly Point, Dr Jim Glockling, Technical Director at the Fire Protection Association and RISCAuthority is joined by Tom Roche, Senior Consultant at FM Global, and Mike Rooney, Chief Executive Officer at Resilience First, to explore resilience and whether it will ever be fully embedded if not mandated. The panel discuss the need for resilience within the commercial and service estates to survive disaster, the role of resilience in business continuity, and whether insurance alone is resilience enough.

In the latest episode of Assembly Point, Jonathan O’Neill OBE, FPA Managing Director is joined by Chris Miles, Regional Business Director at UL to explore how building safety in the UK could benefit from international testing practices.

For the second part of the episode, Howard Passey, FPA Director of Operations speaks to Marcus Rees, FPA Senior Technical Consultant about the benefits offered by a fire strategy when designing, constructing, refurbishing or managing premises.

In the latest episode of Assembly Point, Jonathan O’Neill OBE, Managing Director at the FPA, is joined by Sailesh Mehta, Barrister and Head of the Fire Law Team at Red Lion Chambers to discuss the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and prosecuting those who bear responsibility for the tragedy. Together they consider the implications of the removal of the Building Safety Manager role from the Building Safety Act, coroners’ recommendations, and whether regulators are appropriately resourced under the current regime.

For the second part of the episode, Jonathan speaks to Gill Kernick, Transformation Director at Arup University, and former Grenfell Tower resident. Gill outlines the role of regulations; the need for systemic change; and the responsibility that not only government, but industry has to play in implementing change to prevent further low probability, high consequence events.

Let’s get technical! Join the FPA’s Principal Consultant and suppression systems expert, Dale Kinnersley as he delves into sprinkler and watermist standards with Adrian Kay of Johnson Controls; Alan Crichton from BAFSA; and Stuart Lloyd of Zurich.

Representing between them an insurer, a trade body, and a contractor’s perspective, our panel discuss the impact of new standard BS 9251:2021 for residential sprinkler systems, the introduction of EN 12845-1 and EN 12845-2 for automatic sprinkler systems, and their impact on competence in the industry. They also consider the 3 available watermist standards, and the training being carried out. Our guests finish by sharing their thoughts on sprinkler versus watermist systems, and selecting the most appropriate water-based standard.

Join Jonathan O’Neill OBE, FPA Managing Director as he speaks to Stephen Howard, Head of the FPA’s Fire Testing and Experimental Unit; and Dorian Lawrence, Managing Director at Façade Remedial Consultants. Together the panel discuss the implications of recent changes in legislation and guidance on making our buildings safer and what we still need to see to effectively assess and manage risk.

In the latest episode of Assembly Point, the FPA’s newly appointed Commercial Director, Chris Miles is joined by Helen Hewitt, Chief Executive of the British Woodworking Federation to talk about the importance of passive fire protection measures to the overall built-in fire safety of buildings.

They discuss how passive fire protection can be elevated to a higher-level consideration when designing, constructing, refurbishing, and maintaining a building, the role of legislation in maintaining fire safety products installed within a building, and whether regulation and third party certification are enough when it comes to complying with fire safety standards and requirements.

The penultimate episode of series 2 of Assembly Point sees Chris Miles, Commercial Director at the FPA joined by Professor Jim Glockling, Former Technical Director at the FPA; and Dr Jonathan Evans, Chief Executive Officer at Ash & Lacy, to discuss fire safety and innovation in the construction industry post-Grenfell.