Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has awarded its prestigious Paul Dockerill Award to Principal Fire and Building Safety Engineer, Kabbe Njie

In recognition of his efforts to promote cultural safety in the built environment, the CIOB made the award to Njie for his work creating the Building Safety and Management Method (BSM2), which is intended to restore trust, protect lives, and “strengthen the systems that shape homes and communities”. The BSM2 framework works by helping organisations transform values into structure and safety into behaviour.  

Njie also developed the Resident Culture Code Toolkit in collaboration with residents, building safety managers, housing officers, and fire professionals. The toolkit provides “visuals, checklists, reflective questions, and a simple model to help residents and safety leaders speak the same language about safety”. 

Speaking about the importance of cultural safety in the built environment, Njie said: “Growing up in East and North London, I saw first-hand how vulnerabilities increase fire risk and have sadly felt the impact personally, having lost a cousin to fire.  

“Cultural safety is about reforming how we think and act, not just what rules we follow. Grenfell showed that without openness, trust, and accountability, even technically compliant systems can fail.   

“Cultural safety also means creating an environment where people can speak up without fear, and where professional curiosity is encouraged to challenge assumptions. As residents often tell me, they want to feel listened to as much as protected. The lesson is clear: without psychological safety and curiosity, compliance will always fall short.”  

Njie entered the project into the CIOB’s Paul Dockerill Award, a £10,000 fund established to honour the legacy of a visionary in the built environment sector. As Antonia Lanyiova, Accreditation Manager at CIOB, explained, the fund supports those who are driving innovation and are making a difference when it comes to building safety: “Kabbe's project embodies Paul Dockerill's legacy by placing cultural safety at the heart of building safety.  

“The CIOB is delighted to award Kabbe a significant fund towards his work, and we look forward to seeing the continued development of the Resident Culture Code Toolkit, ensuring safer and more trusted homes for everyone.”