Warringtonfire organises Customer Open Days ahead of state-of-the-art laboratory launch

Part of Element Materials Technology, Warringtonfire is set to launch its new flagship fire facility in just over one month’s time. With construction now finished and building handover completed, the £24 million facility will be in operation from 2 January 2025.

Ahead of the launch, over 100 fire safety professionals and customers of Warringtonfire were given access to the laboratory on 12 and 13 November.

Across four separate sessions over the two days, attendees were shown the magnitude of one of Europe’s largest fire testing laboratories through a guided tour, along with presentations and a networking event where guests could meet Warringtonfire’s team of technical experts.

Customers were able to preview the cutting-edge fire testing equipment and furnaces, assess Warringtonfire’s enhanced capabilities and also learn all about the client welfare amenities offered by the facility.

Peter Barker, technical policy manager at Warringtonfire, also briefed visitors on the evolution of Warringtonfire’s services designed to address the industry’s growing fire resistance testing needs during a presentation entitled ‘Construction Products and the Changing Regulatory Landscape’. Delegates were able to learn how the new legislation is shaping the regulatory landscape for construction products and influencing conformity assessment activities within the testing, inspection and certification industry.

Fantastic success

Leigh Hill, director of Element’s Built Environment Europe division, said: “The Customer Open Days have been a fantastic success. It was a great opportunity for our customers to meet the team and learn more about our operations. We really showcased the scale and efficiency of the Birchwood Park site.”

Hill continued: “Demonstrating our broad service offering and multidisciplinary expertise, our testing, technical and certification experts provided collaborative answers to customer questions. This is something our clients can continue to benefit from since the three teams are now located under one roof. This set-up affords us the ability to deliver a streamlined end-to-end process to a higher standard with the latest technology.”

Further, Hill noted: “Now that construction has finished, the team will be focusing on UKAS validation and accreditation for its five furnaces and operations. While this is taking place, we are gradually transitioning our fire resistance team from the Holmesfield Road laboratory to Birchwood Park as they prepare for the launch. We have been able to fill 50 further positions as part of the expansion, among them maintenance engineer, technical officer, and technical assistant roles.”

Attendee feedback

Attendee feedback following the Customer Open Days has been extremely positive. Shaun Davidson, director at SGD Fire Protection Ltd (the specialist passive fire protection business), said: “We’re incredibly lucky to have such a world-class facility right here in the North West.”

Tom Owen, technical engineer at Etex, observed: “First impressions of the new facility overall are very positive. The sheer scale of the site was impressive. The layout ias very intuitive. I didn’t expect that three tests could run simultaneously, while the possible maximum number of tests that can be conducted is staggering.”

Leigh Hill concluded: “The positive response from customers is very reassuring. We have meticulously designed the new laboratory with clients as the top priority, intentionally incorporating confidential spray booths, each with its own temperature-controlled environment, as well as custom-made steel screens that can be attached to test preparation bays in order to protect Intellectual Property. We’ve also opted for dedicated client viewing areas to ensure privacy and are in the process of trialling additional confidentiality measures to further safeguard sensitive information.”

In order to ensure that the laboratory acts not just as a testing site, but also as an environment wherein meetings can be conducted, Warringtonfire has added ample amenities for employees and customers. These include 175 parking bays and ten charging stations for electric vehicles.

The site also features accessible welfare facilities including shower and locker rooms, five meeting rooms, three conference spaces and a lift for access to platform viewing areas.

*For more information about Warringtonfire’s Birchwood Park laboratory visit www.warringtonfire.com/about-warringtonfire/warrington-site-relocation-and-expansion