Industry sector updates, building safety legislation, living wall fire risk, and solar panel fire testing were all topics of discussion at the RISCAuthority Seminar 2024.
Held at the Minster Building in central London on 12 September 2024, delegates from the insurance sector and beyond joined fire safety professionals for an engaging day of talks and presentations from industry leaders.
Following a warm welcome by RISCAuthority Chair Mark Dunham, the first session of the day was led by FPA Chief Executive, Dr Gavin Dunn. Gavin spoke about how the new political environment and publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report marked a significant and “extensive” change for the sector. In particular, he noted that the new Labour government had set out on a “mission to drive change” in the built environment, improving building safety and to be “seen to act on building safety”.
“They see it through the eyes of social justice”, Gavin said. “And they have an impulse and a mandate to act.”
Offering a detailed overview of the Building Safety Act and updates to building safety legislation was Richard Harral, Chief Executive of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE).
He spoke in detail about the changing regulatory landscape and how it had led to the establishment of a new Building Safety Regulator (BSR) and the updated gateways for high-risk buildings:
“The Building Safety Regulator isn't just responsible for building safety; it is responsible for setting or advising on all of the regulatory standards across the built environment and for the safety of the existing built environment.
“What it tries to do is ensure there is accountability in the supply chain for all building work and that what people are supposed to do is clearly defined. It requires collaborative behaviours. It ensures that work is carried out by competent people. It seeks to expand liability periods and enforcement processes, and it seeks explicit statements of compliance at key stages so that there is no doubt.”
The afternoon sessions saw an insightful discussion on solar panel fire testing by RISCAuthority Principal Consultant Adrian Butler, and a closer look at terrorism risk management best practices by Calum Ronald, Senior Risk Consultant for Pool Re. Calum discussed why terrorism risk management was important and the changing context of terrorism risk and insurance in the UK. He noted the “ever-evolving, dynamic and complex threat from terrorism” and outlined proportionate steps and best practice principles that could “make a real difference” to the success of terrorist attacks.
Technical Director for the FPA, George Edwardes discussed fire safety assessment systems for external cladding systems, including the ongoing challenges for insurers in the remediation of high-rise, mid-rise, and low-rise buildings. He took a closer look at the insufficiencies of current testing and assessment systems, such as BS 8414 and BR 135, and shared the results of the FPA’s new research project, RISC 501, which offered a more comprehensive process and assessment test for external cladding systems.
The final session of the day was hosted by the co-founder of Biotecture Ltd, Richard Sabin. Touching on the importance of green and living walls in the built environment, he looked at risk management solutions for green walls used as external cladding, offering viable solutions for how to put green walls in our infrastructure in a safe and sustainable way.
A full event report will appear in the October issue of the Fire& Risk Management journal.