PROPOSED UPDATES to Approved Document B would increase the required fire resistance of multi-storey open-sided car park structures to 30 minutes (for those structures of between 5 metres and 18 metres in height) and up to one hour for car parks that rise above 18 metres, writes Tom Roche.

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BS 9792:2025 provides recommendations and example documentation for undertaking and recording fire risk assessments in housing. Here, Dr Peter Wilkinson considers how the new British Standard succeeds PAS 79-2:2020 and supports a more consistent, proportionate and accountable approach towards assessing fire risk in residential buildings.

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TWO RECENT industrial fires have highlighted a shift in the pattern of industrial fire incidents across the UK, suggests Tom Roche. While neither fire involved a large warehouse or major manufacturing complex, the two incidents placed an enormous burden on the Fire and Rescue Services involved, local communities and the wider environment. Both episodes also raise an uncomfortable question about the far larger unprotected facilities standing across the UK.

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THE DEVASTATING fire that took hold at Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses in November 2023 is back in the news again, writes Tom Roche, this time for the official opening of the Lancashire cheesemaker’s gleaming new cheesemaking campus complete with a visit from King Charles III.

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IT HAS been a particularly busy year for the Institute of Fire Safety Managers’ (IFSM) Council and technical team, writes Vicki Swaine, as they continue to work tirelessly behind the scenes, duly engaging with Government departments, sector bodies and industry stakeholders on the issues that matter most to the organisation’s members.

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MAJOR BUILDING failures rarely result from a single mistake, writes CROSS-UK. More often, they arise from a chain of assumptions, omissions and misunderstandings that accumulate over time. One professional assumes another has addressed an issue, responsibilities become blurred and critical information fails to reach the right people.

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THE GOVERNMENT has now published its response to the consultation on the proposed Single Construction Regulator, writes Dr Peter Wilkinson. The response confirms both the direction of travel and the scale of the intended reform. It also harbours important implications for fire engineers, fire risk assessors and the professional institutions that actively support them.

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RETAIL REFURBISHMENT projects present a rather unique set of fire safety challenges that must be carefully managed throughout every stage of the works, writes Ramtech Electronics. From the earliest design decisions and material selection through to construction methods and site management, fire risk should remain a central consideration. This is particularly important in retail environments, where refurbishment work often takes place in complex buildings that may remain partially occupied or operational during construction.

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WITH THE summer term drawing to a close, fire safety might not be front of mind in the school domain, observes Tom Roche, yet a run of recent incidents is a reminder that risk doesn’t take a holiday simply because the academic year is winding down.

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WITH THE Grenfell Tower fire having occurred nearly a decade ago, the conversation around fire safety competency continues, writes Justin Maltby-Smith, but concerns around consistency and transparency in the sector remain. These concerns play a central role in the Government’s consultation on regulation of the sector due to the fact that the debate isn’t simply about frameworks, registers or professionalisation. It’s also about public safety.

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TWO DECADES ago, writes Tom Roche, a piece of regulatory guidance quietly set a ceiling – quite literally – on what a warehouse could be without sprinklers. That 18-metre height limit in Approved Document B was, at the time, an outer boundary to signal a building that was going taller than perhaps the norm. Now, warehouses look very different. Has our thinking about protecting them from fire kept pace?

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FIRE SAFETY in Scotland marked a defining moment on 6 April with the introduction of new regulations requiring sprinkler systems to be installed in historic building conversions used as hotels. For many commentators and practitioners, this represents a necessary step forward, writes Iain Cox.

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FOR MANY fire protection contractors, observes Onetrace, the biggest risk isn’t the installation work itself. It’s the records surrounding it. Photos and site updates can be buried in personal phones and WhatsApp chats. Quality assurance sheets sit in folders and drawings are marked up manually.

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SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING across major infrastructure has become increasingly sophisticated, writes Tom Roche. Airports and transport hubs now measure greenhouse gas emissions across Scope 1, 2 and 3, publish reduction targets and track year-on-year progress. That progress matters, while the discipline behind it represents a significant shift in terms of how infrastructure organisations approach environmental responsibility.

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BACK IN late March, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government launched its open consultation on the Fire Risk Assessors Profession in England. The consultation closes on 18 June. Here, Dennis Davis outlines why it’s essential that all practitioners responsible for fire safety in the estimated three million buildings in England where the legal requirement exists to undertake a fire risk assessment, record the findings and take any necessary actions under the Fire Safety Order must respond.

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THE FIRE safety industry is proceeding through radical change realised in large part by legislation. Here, Gavin Skelly covers the hugely important issue of the need for cultural change and outlines why the moral responsibility for those with a Duty of Care is a vocation, not just a job or a compliance exercise.

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‘WHY SPRINKLER Water – Not Fire – is Mass Timber’s Greatest Threat’ was the original headline of a recent research-based article, writes Tom Roche. Take a moment with that headline. A system that keeps fires at bay is being positioned as a greater danger than the fire itself. The claim attracted enough concern that the article was subsequently revised, but the framing had landed and deserves a direct response.

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IN FEBRUARY 1877, notes Tom Roche, a fire broke out in a Massachusetts mill. It was, by most accounts, an unremarkable fire and the kind of incident that, at any other time, would have gutted a building, destroyed livelihoods and perhaps cost lives. On this occasion, though, something different happened.

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ACROSS THE country, observes Gareth Barker, Fire and Rescue Services are called to medical emergencies, including road traffic collisions, industrial accidents and collapsed persons in public spaces. Fire crews often arrive before any ambulance and, particularly so in rural areas where response times are longer, firefighters may be the only trained responders on scene for several critical minutes.

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AS THE use of drones continues to accelerate across defence operations, organisations throughout the defence supply chain are facing new safety and compliance challenges. Here, Mike Brodie explains why hazardous storage is a key consideration for supporting modern defence capability.

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The multilayer PCB segment is a big part of our production. In order to support this important segment, we have developed long-standing relationships with a broad factory base. The factories are carefully selected in our sourcing process.

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