FIRE RISK assessments are a legal requirement and a vital safety tool underpinning all commercial buildings in the UK. They serve to protect people, property and business operations. Here, Anthony Walker sets out the requirements for, the procedures surrounding and also the significance of conducting fire risk assessments.

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ODDLY, THE image you see below isn’t the burned out hulk of an industrial or commercial building such as the Cannock warehouse that caught fire in May 2024, writes Tom Roche. It’s a photo from Stockholm showing a low-rise residential building left largely uninhabitable after a fire spread across the structure. It catches the attention not because it’s unique, but rather because its familiar. Too familiar, in fact.

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WITH ANOTHER school year about to begin, once again we find ourselves having the same discussion about fire safety guidance, writes Thomas Roche. The last attempt to revise Building Bulletin 100 was back in 2021, but nothing came of it, with Government sliding aspects into the generic design brief for schools. This leaves us with a gap to the guidance written in 2007. In the meantime, schools have continued to face serious fires, leaving communities to deal with avoidable consequences.

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FIRE SAFETY is a critical aspect of any building’s design and ongoing management, writes Paul Smith. While active fire protection systems such as sprinklers, alarms and extinguishers are well known, passive fire protection is equally vital in mitigating the risks associated with fire.

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ARTICLE 21 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states the designated ‘Responsible Person’ must ensure that all employees are provided with adequate safety training, writes Luke Ventura. It’s a legal requirement that training must be provided from the time the employee is first employed and subsequently if they’re exposed to a new or increased risk.

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THERE IS something quietly encouraging about the story of St Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy in Derby, notes Iain Cox. Following its destruction by fire in 2020, the school has been rebuilt, not simply with an eye on sustainability, but with resilience very much front and centre.

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PASSIVE FIRE protection relies on the effective compartmentation of a given building, writes Alec Purdie. It’s made up of fire doors, walls and floors and works alongside active systems such as sprinklers and fire alarms.

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GREEN IS a colour we all see every day. It has multiple uses and is synonymous with nature, calmness, clean energy, sustainability and conservation. Considered by many as the universal colour of safety and ‘go’, we’re even told that green improves focus and is good for us. In the UK at least, legislation dictates that emergency exit signage (ie the ‘running man’ legend) is white on green. Alan Ward examines precisely why.

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WHEN A devastating fire destroyed a once grand and historic hotel (specifically The Claremont Hotel on Eastbourne’s seafront), writes Iain Cox, one could have expected an effort to rebuild and replace it pretty quickly. However, in this particular case it has become a symbol of disruption ever since.

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PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) SYSTEMS harness sunlight to generate electricity through semiconductor materials, providing a sustainable and renewable energy source. Being electrical systems, though, means that solar PV installations present common fire risks that need to be managed to ensure safety and performance, as Spike Armstrong discovers.

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FIRE SAFETY in hotels has garnered increased attention on recent times following a series of high-profile incidents, writes Thomas Roche. In January this year, for example, the fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort of the Bolu Province in Turkey killed 78 people. That was global news.

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LAST OCTOBER, the Government announced its continued commitment to the future of education, writes Thomas Roche, by unveiling plans to rebuild another 114 schools across the country. That investment presents an invaluable opportunity to ensure that our school buildings are not just fit for purpose, but also resilient for decades to come. Are we really thinking long-term about fire protection in these rebuilds?

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AS WE continue to step into the New Year, and reflect on fire incidents from 2024, one key question immediately springs to mind: ‘How long does it truly take to recover from and then rebuild after a devastating fire? The lingering scars of fire disasters across the UK remind us all of the enduring challenges involved in recovery and reconstruction, writes Tom Roche.

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2024, STATES Philip White, marked the shift from groundwork to meaningful action. There has been a demonstration of what’s possible when unity develops behind a shared goal, but that’s just the beginning. The long-term journey is all about building and managing a safer and more accountable built environment for everyone.

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AS MANY sector commentators continue to reflect on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and its recommendations, it’s important to recognise that the issues brought to light extend far beyond high-rise residential buildings. The challenges highlighted by this tragedy, asserts Thomas Roche, and highlighted in the Phase 2 final report are not confined to one type of building or one type of issue. Rather, they permeate across the entire built environment.

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IN ORDER to achieve the United Nations’ stated goal of ‘Net Zero’ carbon emissions by 2040, significant changes must be made, and particularly so in the construction sector. As the global population continues to grow, streamlining the construction industry becomes increasingly essential, emphasising the need to adopt more sustainable practices, as Ramtech Electronics reports.

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CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL Development (CPD) is essential for fire safety and HVAC engineers such that they can stay ahead in what is now a rapidly evolving industry, particularly so in view of the increasing demands exerted by the Building Safety Act 2022. Here, SMAY Ventilation Systems’ David Fitzpatrick examines the importance of CPD in fire safety and HVAC system design.

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WITH THE built environment contributing a significant amount of the UK’s total carbon footprint, there’s no question that the construction sector needs to act in order to ensure buildings meet their sustainable development goals. However, terminology and language have changed and have started to form a new set of ‘accounting principles’ which, to the uninitiated, govern material selection and choices for a project, as Iain Cox observes.

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THE TALL Buildings Conference and Awards 2024 took place at etc. Venues, St Pauls in central London on 25 June, duly bringing together leading experts to discuss the critical aspects of high-rise construction with a significant focus on fire safety. Here, David Fitzpartick of conference sponsor and Premium Exhibitor SMAY Ventilation Systems summarises the key insights related to fire safety, as highlighted by industry professionals and showcased in various presentations at conference.

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IN THE realm of fire regulation, in 2020 the UK emerged as a leader in Europe by reducing the height threshold guidance for sprinklers in new build residential buildings to 11 metres. However, when it comes to fire safety guidance in warehouses, the situation is quite different, as Alan Brinson finds out.

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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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