Change of leadership announced at the Association for Specialist Fire Protection

Davies (pictured above, left) moves on having led the ASFP through a period of huge development and growth across the last two years, during which time strong foundations have been formed for the future.

He has presided over the largest growth in membership in the history of the ASFP, which amounts to an increase of over 42%. In addition, Davies has put in place new resources and structures to further develop the ASFP’s training, events and other membership services.

“I’m proud to have led the ASFP through such a period of rapid change,” asserted Davies. “Having had the opportunity to be involved in developing the organisation’s strategy for 2023-2025, I’m confident that the ASFP will continue to meet the growing expectations of members and the wider passive fire protection sector. By handing the baton to Mike, I know that the Association will remain in safe hands.”

Davies continued: “I would like to thank the ASFP’s Council and members of the various Technical Groups for their support and participation and I wish Mike and the entire ASFP team every success in the future. I’m leaving the ASFP at an exciting time, given that the organisation will be moving into new premises with additional training capacity. That occurrence will further assist in meeting the ongoing demands of the industry.”

Trajectory of growth

Having joined the ASFP in the role of business manager back in 2019, Mike Ward (pictured above, right) has since been fully involved in supporting the organisation’s development, taking forward many initiatives on the ground.

“I feel privileged to be given the opportunity to lead the ASFP,” enthused Ward. “I want to thank Steve for his diligent and expert leadership over the last two years. We intend to continue the trajectory of growth that has been established, increasing membership and improving membership diversity along the way. I’m also keen to further improve skills and knowledge in passive fire protection and will continue our development of the ASFP’s training and competency offers. We will proactively build on the value of ASFP membership through adding member benefits, creating new technical support assets and improving the ASFP’s reach and influence.”

Ward added: “I will also seek to increase ASFP technical and regulatory support through the publication of Best Practice guidance documents for a series of new product sectors and trades that are related to passive fire protection.”

Davies will remain involved with the ASFP as a non-executive director on the Executive Board, thereby providing continued support and advice to Ward and the team as a whole.

Essential standards

The ASFP was formed in 1975 in recognition of a need to bring together passive fire protection solution manufacturers, contractors and testing/certification bodies in order to encourage, develop and relate guidance on essential standards in passive fire protection.

The organisation serves – and represents the needs of – its members and the wider passive fire protection industry by actively raising standards and competence in the areas of training, testing, certification and the quality of installation and maintenance work.

Further, the ASFP aims to advance knowledge and guidance on all aspects of ‘built-in’ fire protection, provide technical support and impartial advice, lead on regulatory and behavioural change as an independent authority and also improve competence and quality through training.

*Further information is available online at www.asfp.org.uk