What is competency and are we ever truly competent in our chosen profession? This raises the question – are we consciously ignoring our mistakes or overlooking things we know not to be correct, or are we all in some way…
Recognising the critical role of the fire safety sector
On Tuesday, 5 May a fire engulfed the 49-storey Abbco Tower, a residential skyscraper in the city of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. While the cause of the blaze and the mechanism of fire spread has not yet been…
The intrinsic value of fire protection
In the UK, we have seen a number of large loss fire in recent months involving buildings where rapid and ‘unexpected’ fire spread has been a major feature. These include the Holiday Inn hotel in Walsall; the Premier Inn at…
The Hackitt review – what does it mean for specification?
On 19 December, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) issued a response to the Hackitt review and a 64-page implementation plan. This states that the Ministry intends to implement all the recommendations but with subtle changes of detail. It…
Should ‘Stay Put’ stay put?
Stay put is a policy used for certain types of buildings such as large high rise blocks of flats, where the means of escape is limited – usually because there is only one stairway. Such buildings are ‘compartmented’ so that…
Is there still a place for desktop studies?
One of the recommendations of Dame Judith Hackitt’s Interim Report on the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety was that the Government should significantly restrict the use of desktop studies to approve changes to cladding and other systems…
After Grenfell, three issues to consider
Following the Grenfell tower fire in June, the British government set up an independent review into Building Regulations and Fire Safety led by Dame Judith Hackitt. An interim report is expected in late 2017 with a full report in spring…
It’s not just cladding you know…