THE GOVERNMENT has reset its approach to building safety with a bold new plan to protect leaseholders and make wealthy developers and companies pay to fix the cladding crisis. However, the way forward – in which Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Communities and Housing targets the sum of circa £4 billion to replace combustible cladding on buildings of heights between 11 metres and 18 metres – may not be sufficient in financial terms. That’s the view of Mike Robinson, CEO of the British Safety Council.

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THE FIRE Industry Association (FIA), itself a major provider of fire safety training, has announced the acquisition of Igneo’s market fire safety platform. The latter’s industry initiative provides the first independent fire safety portal as a single point of reference for compliance and competence in the UK’s fire safety industry.

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IN ITS role as the UK’s national standards body, the British Standards Institution (BSI) has published a new Code of Practice for the fire risk appraisal of external wall construction and cladding of existing multi-storey and multi-occupied residential buildings.

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THE FIRE Brigades Union (FBU) has written to US counterparts with an offer of collaborative working focused on building safety campaigning. This move follows on from the Bronx apartment fire that occurred on Sunday 9 January and, of course, the Grenfell Tower disaster of June 2017.

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THE BUILDING Engineering Services Association (BESA) has praised Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Communities and Housing) for “taking the initiative” in trying to address the growing cladding scandal, but also warns that the Government’s new plan for ramping up building safety “would not completely solve the problem”.

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THE BOARD of Directors at European Trade Association Fire Safe Europe has appointed Eugenio Quintieri to be the organisation’s new managing director. Quintieri succeeds Juliette Albiac in the role.

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SUBSEQUENT TO a thorough recruitment process, the BAFE Fire Safety Register has announced the appointment of Dr Justin Maltby-Smith CEng FIET CMgr FCMI as the organisation’s new managing director.

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THE FIRST-ever edition of the Fire Industry Association’s (FIA) Guide to the UK Fire Safety Industry has now been published. This detail-packed and essential document of record has been created by Fire Safety Matters in partnership with the Trade Association.

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CARE HOME business BUPA Care Services (ANS) Ltd has been fined £937,500 for fire safety failings and ordered to pay £104,000 in prosecution costs following a case hearing at Southwark Crown Court. The verdict signals the highest-ever fine for fire safety breaches in the UK.

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THE INDEPENDENT Standards and Regulation Board of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has nailed its colours firmly to the mast in the public interest in the form of new guidance issued to valuers on the subject of cladding. The news comes as property professionals and industry commentators alike have unanimously supported the retention of current measures designed to protect future buyers of property in blocks with cladding.

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THE FIRE Brigades Union (FBU) has said that the latest set of inspections conducted by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) confirm that Fire and Rescue Services across the country are struggling to provide basic functions. HMICFRS has statutory responsibility for the inspection of Fire and Rescue Services and police forces.

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SAFETY, HEALTH and Wellbeing (SHW) Live’s Manchester event has been rescheduled due to the emergence of the Omicron COVID-19 variant and will now take place on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 May 2022 at Manchester Central.

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THE LEGAL representative taking part in the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry to serve as counsel for the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has placed a central importance on the “agenda of deregulation, privatisation and marketisation” being an underlying cause of the disaster. Martin Seaward QC said that an agenda “which encouraged companies to behave recklessly towards building safety” was “actively and, regrettably, deliberately created by central Government”.

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RONNIE KING, advisor and honorary administrative secretary to the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group, has announced the election of Bob Blackman of the Conservative Party (and its Member of Parliament for Harrow East) as the Group’s new chairman to succeed Sir David Amess.

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AVIVA IS warning customers to take care when charging electrical items after receiving “dozens” of home fire claims caused by chargers and batteries in 2021. According to the insurer, multiple home fire claims this year have been linked to faulty, damaged or incorrect chargers or items which were left to charge for too long. Aviva states that such components have overheated, leading to fires in the home.

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JOHNSON CONTROLS, the specialist in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, has acquired the Provincial Sprinkler Company Ltd, a specialist fire suppression business based in Cork, Ireland. The Provincial Sprinkler Company Ltd provides Johnson Controls with a stronger presence in the region.

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THE LONDON Fire Brigade (LFB) is supporting a Transport for London (TfL) ban on private e-scooters being conveyed across London’s transport network. The ban, which comes into force on Monday 13 December, follows in the wake of an e-scooter catching fire on a packed London Underground train.

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DURING THE 51st General Assembly of Euralarm, the European Trade Association representing the fire safety and security industries, the members chose Jon Könz to be the new president of the organisation. Könz succeeds Martin Harvey who has served as president for the last three-and-a-half years.

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THE INSTITUTION of Fire Engineers (IFE) has announced its new Board of Directors and International General Assembly leaders for 2021-2022, with the former highlighted at the IFE’s 98th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on Tuesday 9 November at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London’s Westminster.

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A LACK of standardisation for fire risk assessments is leaving the wind farms industry exposed. That’s the key finding of a new report published by Firetrace International, the provider of fire suppression technology with systems in place across no less than 35 countries spanning five continents.

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