Building Engineer - June 2025 by Redactive Media Group

buildingengineer

Smoke damage

In reducing the ﬂammability of materials, have we just made smoke more toxic?

Blind spot Riser shafts, the forgotten area of HRB building work that become lethal in a ﬁre

Good with wood Research into the eﬀects of preservative coatings on the combustion of wood

Old Bailey trial Fire engineering a smoke shaft for a listed building’s hotel refurbishment

Making assumptions

When every second counts, are outdated fire loads sabotaging firefighting efforts?

Sharpen your skills with training from CABE

Online: Future Homes Part L

This half-day course will present the developments following the changes to Building Regulations and Part L. The changes will be analysed with discussion on impact for the industry.

£115 cabe members* | £150 non-members*

Principles of Fire Risk Assessment in Purpose-Built Flats

An IFE Recognised Course, the CABE Principles of Fire Risk Assessment in Purpose-Built Flats course will examine the ﬁre safety in purposebuilt ﬂats guide and will explain the application of the guidance with the aid of practical examples and case studies.

Plan Interpretation Workshop

This two-day workshop has been designed to improve the plan-checking skills of new entrants to Building Control as well as those involved in designing buildings in accordance with the Building Regulations and Approved Documents. The workshop is designed to be ﬂexible and is adapted to take into consideration the varying skills of participants based on their experiences and desired outcomes.

11 100 years of CABE Turning back the pages

10 Technical insights Hywel Davies gives the inside view on what he’s been up to for CABE

15 President’s inauguration Celebrations at the House of Lords for the new President

12 Safeguarding Are sprinklers the most eﬀective for ﬁre protection?

13 CROSS UK Report 1197: Incorrect firestopping by a third-party certified contractor; Report 1318: Ineffective third-party certification

18 All about optics Which optical ﬂame detection system is best?

19 Blind spot Understanding the role of risers is vital

22 Good with wood Research into the impact of coatings on combustion

15 building engineer

24 Old Bailey trial

A listed building’s hotel refurbishment for ﬁre safety

27 Industry opinion

The growing gap between competence and complexity

28 Code red

Lithium-ion batteries are presenting new risks

30 Safe as houses?

Lithium-ion batteries in everyday objects need to be handled with care

32 A light touch BASFA explains how water-mist ﬁre protection reduces damage

35 Snug ﬁt

The importance of properly specified and fitted fire doors

36 Under control The results from CABE’s Building Control Survey INSIGHT

38 Making assumptions Modern living means the ﬁre loads for buildings are not what they used to be

43 Smoke damage Is the toxic smoke from burning objects just as dangerous as the ﬁre itself?

COMMUNITY

48 Association update Richard Flynn’s 2025 visit to Asia Paciﬁc to build bridges and share knowledge across the globe

E-mail: info@redactive.co.uk redactive.co.uk

cabe@redactive.co.uk

Designer: Joe McAllister

Picture researcher: Jessica Marsh

Sub-editor: Amy Beveridge

Production: Aysha Miah-Edwards

E-mail: aysha.miah@redactive.co.uk

Tel: 020 7880 6241

Advertising: E-mail: cabe-ads@redactive.co.uk

Tel: 020 7880 6206

Welcome

My year as President comes at an exciting time. CABE continues to be a driving force within the built environment; championing professional standards, innovation and industry leadership. CABE has always placed a strong emphasis on competency and takes pride in the conferences, CPD events and forums hosted, ensuring that members have the latest knowledge, maintain high professional standards and enjoy lifelong learning. The event calendar for 2025 is once again packed with conferences, seminars and training sessions.

CABE’s Building Inspector Competence Assessment Scheme has been highly successful over the past year for enhancing and assessing the competence of building control professionals. The new legislation and associated changes are a testing time for our industry however, CABE has successfully and professionally navigated the challenges as they occurred.

incredible journey to the role of President ﬁrst began. I have seen ﬁrsthand how CABE has evolved over the years and it has been a real privilege to have been part of it for so long.

This summer, I will be undertaking my presidential charity event to raise money for brain tumour research and Dementia UK, two charities close to my heart. I will be cycling from coast to coast, incorporating as many regions and members as possible; you can join me for the ride or just for a beer at one of the various stop points after a long day in the saddle!

“I have seen ﬁrsthand how CABE has evolved over the years and it has been a privilege to be part of it”

I would also like to thank Richard Flynn for his successful presidential year. I look forward to continuing to work with him in his role as Immediate Past President and Chair of the Management Group. Thanks also to Richard Smith, who has now completed his four-year term on the presidential team. Please all join me in welcoming Paul Grinyer and Veronica Fiore, who join me on the CABE presidential team this year.

Fire safety – this issue’s theme – has always been a critical aspect of the construction industry, influencing how buildings are designed, built and maintained. Proper fire safety measures protect lives, property and infrastructure, ensuring that structures can withstand fire hazards and allow safe evacuation. It is not just a legal requirement − it is a fundamental responsibility. By integrating fire-resistant design principles, conducting risk assessments and following regulations, the industry can create a safer built environment.

I’d like to say ‘thank you’ to the members for electing me to the Board in 2010, when my

I would like to thank my husband John and my two children, Charlie and Eva, for supporting me on this journey as President. And many thanks to my employer Socotec for being incredibly supportive in allowing me the time to fulﬁl my CABE duties.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible during the year ahead.

SPONSORED WALK FROM LUTYENS HOUSE TO OUR HONG KONG OFFICE PLEASE SCAN QR CODE TO DONATE

The briefing

New HRB standards

The new UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence and Commitment contextualised for Higher-Risk Buildings (UK-SPEC HRB) has been launched. It has been developed by the Engineering Council in response to recommendations made in Dame Judith Hackitt ’s independent review of building regulations and ﬁre safety Building a Safer Future, which was commissioned by the UK government in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower ﬁre in 2017.

The new standard is tailored for engineers and technicians working in the built environment –particularly on the design, construction, maintenance and operation of HRBs.

It incorporates the criteria from BS 8670 and sets out a sector-speciﬁc competence framework consisting of a core document and discipline annexes. Demonstrating competence could involve registration against the core framework only, or a combination of the discipline annexes: ﬁre engineering, structural engineering, building services engineering and façade engineering.

CABE CEO Richard Harral said: “The launch of this new registration scheme for engineers working on HRBs represents a step change through career competence management.

“By providing a tailored approach to assessing competence for all major roles within design and project

NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE INDUSTRY

Davidson Prize 2025

The 2025 Davidson Prize presents 16 exciting concepts to help solve the UK’s housing crisis. The longlisted and ﬁnalist projects are to be showcased during the London Festival of Architecture on 10 June 2025 at Making House Heatherwick Studio, when the winner will be announced. The winning team will receive a week of Hayes Davidson’s support to help them engage key decision-makers in UK housing.

teams, from technician to chartered engineer, the HRB register will incentivise investment in the lifelong learning necessary to ensure engineers are competent and that buildings remain safe.”

In case you missed it…

Building Engineer reports regularly on industry news at buildingengineer.org.uk

Here’s a round-up of recent articles: Higher education has pivotal role in supporting the UK’s Plan for Change buildingengineer.org.uk/UKC3-call Property developer prosecuted for health and safety failings buildingengineer.org.uk/Nofax Macedonia tragedy highlights frequency and severity of nightclub ﬁres started by pyrotechnics buildingengineer.org.uk/Macedonia

Skin cancer awareness

The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) has committed to updating its Code of Considerate Practice to include skin protection as a key assessment criterion. It will work with the industry to champion eﬀorts to develop a new gold standard solution for UV protection. In future, on-site health and safety contractors must demonstrate a comprehensive,

Timber and ﬁre safety

The Structural Timber Association (STA) has released the latest update to the STA Volume 1 Pattern Book: Structural Timber Buildings Fire Safety in Use, which provides information on the performance of diﬀerent structural timber elements.

Peer reviewed by experts at BRE Global, the book demonstrates the ﬁre resistance performance of a range of timber frame wall and engineered timber ﬂoor constructions used commonly in the UK. By streamlining the process of demonstrating compliance for designers,

proactive approach to UV risk management. This commitment will not only protect workers, but also set a new benchmark for the industry. Desiree Blamey, Head of Partnerships at CCS, said: “Enhancing prevention measures against skin cancer is a priority for CCS as we progress in reﬁning our code to elevate worker wellbeing standards across the UK.”

manufacturers and regulators, the STA provides simple, clear instructions on what component parts within each construction element can be changed. Paul Newman, Technical Director at the STA, said: “The Volume 1 Pattern Book is one of our most important publications,

recognised and accepted by building control bodies as an authoritative source of information, and we remain committed to maintaining and developing its content to ensure rigorous safety design principles are always upheld.”

Download it at b.link/STA_timber

Fire safety standards

There has been an update in fire safety standards that significantly affects the design and specification of steel fire doorsets.

A new UK National Foreword has been published alongside the revised version of the extended application standard EN 15269-2, following concerns raised within the industry about potentially unsafe design practices previously permitted under the standard.

Big Bang Competition

Almost 1,000 young people aged 11 to 18 from across the UK have entered The Big Bang Competition.

Mark Wood, Social Sustainability Lead, Siemens, Great Britain and Ireland, said: “The Big Bang Competition is an opportunity for

Although non-normative, it provides an explicit advisory that thresholds should only be included where supported by direct ﬁre testing evidence to EN 1634-1.

Industry testing revealed that the addition of a threshold to a steel fire doorset – previously allowed without further evidence under EN 15269-2 – can compromise fire performance, particularly when used with certain core constructions commonly specified in the UK.

This update enhances public safety by ensuring that extended application of ﬁre resistance results is applied consistently and reliably.

aspiring designers, technologists, engineers and problem-solvers to showcase their ideas using science, technology, engineering and maths [STEM] to improve our lives.

“As digitisation becomes more crucial and sustainable living more important, the ideas from our young people are inspiring, limitless and practical. Each year, I am amazed by the brilliant ideas and genuine passion they demonstrate.”

Winners will be announced at The Big Bang Fair at the NEC in Birmingham from 17-19 June 2025. The annual Big Bang Fair is the largest celebration of STEM for young people aged 10 to 13 in the UK. Through hands-on activities, incredible shows and career panels, the fair inspires students to pursue diverse careers in STEM.

To view the ﬁnalists, visit b.link/BigBang_ﬁnalists25

Return of EnvCast

The Society for the Environment has brought back EnvCast, its monthly podcast. Each month it will welcome two expert environmental professionals to explore what they believe to be the top ﬁve things to consider within a particular topic. Topics range from climate and leadership to agriculture and AI.

If you are a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv), Registered Environmental Practitioner (REnvP) or Registered Environmental Technician (REnvTech) and want to talk about an environmental topic you’re passionate about, get in touch. To listen to all episodes so far, search for ‘EnvCast: Environment Top 5’ via your favourite podcast provider or head to the SocEnv website to ﬁnd out more.

CABE is licensed by the Society for the Environment to award the professional registrations REnvTech, REnvP and CEnv to members.

To discover more, or apply for registration, visit cbuilde.com/socenv

Venice exhibition

If you’re holidaying in Venice this summer, you might like to visit the 19th International Architecture Exhibition for ‘The Next Earth’. The exhibition runs throughout 2025 and presents two pioneering research initiatives: Antikythera’s ‘The Noocene: Computation and Cosmology from Antikythera to AI’ and MIT Architecture’s ‘Climate Work: Un/Worlding the Planet’. Installed on adjacent ﬂoors of Palazzo Diedo Berggruen Arts & Culture, this exhibition raises urgent questions about our shared past, present and futures and how philosophy and architecture must respond to planetary-scale crises.

Procurement framework

Anew competence framework for construction procurement professionals has been published. Competence Framework for Procurement Professionals in the Built Environment in England has been developed on behalf of Sector Led Group 8 of the Industry Competence Steering Group, in partnership with the Association for Project Management, the Chartered Institute of Building, the Construction Products Association, the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

The framework is intended for use by: professional institutions, regulators, enforcing authorities,

Project risk

The Association for Project Management (APM) has released the third edition of its Project Risk Analysis and Management Guide

This is an advanced and practical resource to equip project professionals with the latest strategies for managing uncertainty.

Building upon the industryleading second edition, this new version integrates data analytics, decisionmaking psychology, agile methodologies and sectorspeciﬁc risk management.

The edition reﬂects the evolving risk landscape, providing tools and frameworks that enable proactive rather than reactive risk management.

licensing bodies and organisations that undertake procurement activities to assess the competence of those undertaking the procurement activities; and individuals undertaking procurement activities to determine their own competence and to identify areas for development and/or to use those with the required expertise to undertake the procurement activities.

Dame Judith Hackitt said: “The publication of this framework marks a really important step in changing culture and achieving better outcomes in the built environment.”

NEWS IN BRIEF

BCIA NEEDS YOU

The Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) is looking for additional End Point Assessors to support the development of apprentice BEMS Controls Engineers. More than 245 apprentices are currently enrolled in the BEMS Controls Engineer programme, and the BCIA is urging members to consider lending their extensive knowledge to help deliver a robust, accurate review process. Apply at b.link/BCIA_assessors

ASFP MEMBERSHIP

The Association for Specialist Fire Protection has announced it is introducing a new membership category. This category will provide a platform for collaboration and innovation, leveraging the expertise of these producers to beneﬁt the entire industry.

NEW AWARD LAUNCHED

The Door & Hardware Federation has created a new Level 3 Award in Compliance & Safety of Fire Resisting Roller Shutter Doors training course. The course provides a full day of learning, mapped to the National Occupational Standards for the installation, maintenance and repair of ﬁre resisting roller shutter doors.

TECHLIBRARY

Pyroguard has launched its Pyroguard TechLibrary, an innovative digital platform designed to make it easier for architects, speciﬁers and contractors to access essential technical data and test results. See b.link/Pyroguard_TechLibrary

GET INVOLVED

Building Engineer prides itself on presenting high-quality technical information and industry insight, and would like to showcase the expertise of the members themselves. Do you have specialist knowledge of an area that’s not being covered, or insight in an area that is? Would you be willing to submit a feature or be interviewed? If so, e-mail the editor at cabe@redactive.co.uk

TECHNICAL INSIGHTS

ICABE Head of Technical Insight Hywel Davies works to inform and inﬂuence policy, standards and guidance in the profession – here’s what that means for members

n April, I attended the CABE Malaysia annual conference in Kuala Lumpur. This has become established in the calendar of the CABE regional chapter, and as well as facilitating networking and knowledge sharing, it attracts a range of speakers on key topics for our members in Malaysia and Singapore. I was asked to present on the Grenfell Tower ﬁre and building safety, updating them on the background to the ﬁre and what we have learned through the Inquiry, as well as the recommendations, the government response and the regulatory changes we have already adopted.

As well as speaking at the conference I was able to meet with the Malaysian Board of Technologists, with whom CABE has a reciprocal arrangement to recognise membership, enhancing professional networking opportunities in the region. We also met the Construction Industry Development Board, who were interested in the lessons learned from the Grenfell Inquiry, our work on competence and our Building Inspector Competence Assessment Scheme in particular. The visit helped to maintain our relationship with the chapter and identify opportunities to further develop our support for members in Malaysia and the far east.

Route to HRBs

oﬀers CABE members a route to obtain evidence of competence to work speciﬁcally on HRBs.

Competence markers

Maintaining the competence theme, I co-chair the Industry Competence Steering Group Sector Group for engineers, along with the Technical Director of the Institution of Structural Engineers. This group has responsibility for identifying appropriate competence frameworks for the key engineering disciplines in buildings and construction and feeds into the wider work of the Steering Group to develop competence frameworks across the industry. Its aim is to provide a mechanism for all in the industry to develop and assess their competence and to demonstrate it, as required by the Building Regulations. These activities are all opportunities to demonstrate the contribution that Association members make to the industry and promote the role of all aspects of building engineering in the sector.

“These activities are all opportunities to promote all aspects of building engineering”

Making connections

CABE's involvement also creates the connections with other institutions, including the IStructE, which enables us to collaborate with them, such as on a recent Webinar Wednesday session on the potential risks of punching shear in transfer slabs. These are challenging structural components to design and build correctly, and must be designed and built to withstand punching shear. It was a busy month and this is a snapshot of some of the work being done by and for the Association in order to inﬂuence policy, contribute to guidance and develop technical information for the membership.

Engineering Council fully launches UK-SPEC HRB Standard b.link/CABE_UK-SPEC

CABE has also been closely involved in the development of the Engineering Council register for those working on Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs), which was launched in full on 1 May. This is the culmination of several years of work and

Engineering Council Higher-Risk Buildings (HRB) cbuilde.com/HRB

Webinar Wednesday with the IStructe b.link/CABEWebinar_Slabs

100 years of CABE

CABE turns 100 years old this year. To mark this milestone, Building Engineer takes a look back at the journal through the years

We look through the annals of the journal from 1955 to see what the hot topics of the day were, what was facing the industry and how CABE’s professional membership responded.

THE PARTHENON MAY-JUNE 1955

The issue opens with a presentation of the new coat of arms for the Association granted by the College of Heralds: “The two supporters are (on left) a ﬁgure representing an architect … and on the other side a surveyor … The crest above the shield has a wreath in red, blue and gold, surmounted by a representation of the Parthenon. The accompanying motto, registered a part of the design, reads ‘Probitate et Arte’ (with integrity and art).”

The President, Liet Colonel AE Henson, presides over the current state of the industry with a criticism of the redevelopment of the City of London (published in Britain Today) that he urges members to review. “This report on the architectural health of the country demands to be read, especially by members of our own professions … The report is a pungent indictment of the way in which the country in general – and the

urban part of it in particular – is exploiting the opportunities for redevelopment that the ravages of war opened up.”

Elsewhere in the issue, the Association is looking to the future with a new ‘Junior Members’ Section’, which it says is “hoped [to be] a regular feature, designed to record matters of interest to the reformed Junior Members’ Organisation … Too little is known of the junior member and his activities – where he studies, how he studies and what his problems are.” This mirrors CABE’s current focus on students and entry-level memberships and how the Association can best support them.

The Association’s activities continue with updates from each branch, notably from the northern counties: “The branch made a departure from its usual programme and held a Ladies Night … It was felt that the wives of members did not have the opportunity … of joining in branch aﬀairs;

the support given to this experiment was most encouraging and the experiment will most certainly be repeated.” (!)

The issue’s main technical feature covers ‘the Preservation of Ancient Buildings’. It is a reproduction of a lecture given to the Wessex Chapter by Bertram CG Shore. He discusses construction materials (timber and stone), how they are used, the challenges of their use – such as wood beetles and damp in the stone – and their strengths. He says: “The subject is desperately important for the future of our country. We have a lovely island, most varied in its beauties in a small space … and we are not only letting our attractions go; we are actively engaged in destroying them.”

It would seem that a key theme of this issue is the preservation of architectural heritage that is being abandoned in favour of a signiﬁcant and urgent demand for building, which sounds very familiar. The author’s aspirations are that “this work is something to be striven over with all the power we can muster from ourselves, but it is also something which must be loved. It is not just oﬃce work, it must be dreamed over.”

“The country in general – and the urban part of it in particular – is exploiting the opportunities for redevelopment that the ravages of war opened up”

Safeguarding

Thomas Roche, Secretary of the Business Sprinkler Alliance, considers whether the UK government’s ﬁre safety actions thus far can be considered a regulatory success for property protection

Anew Fire Safety: Property Protection report, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), explores the state of property protection in ﬁre safety regulations and examines international approaches to safeguarding buildings from ﬁre damage.

The report forms part of the UK government’s wider response to Dame Judith Hackitt ’s Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. While the core focus of the regulations has always been life safety, a public call for evidence revealed growing concerns that building and property protection were being neglected.

In response, this review was commissioned to explore how ﬁre safety regulations could better reduce property damage. It states that ﬁre safety regulations in England and Wales

prioritise life safety, with property protection largely absent from the statutory framework:

“Most of the guidelines designed specifically to protect buildings and property from fire are non-statutory in nature.” This means they are voluntary or insurance-driven rather than embedded in legislation. It further concludes that “there is no empirical evidence to indicate the extent to which property protection is achieved through life safety”. This underscores the need for explicit protection measures within regulations. Sprinklers were consistently identified throughout the review as the most effective active fire protection system. According to the report “sprinklers are especially prominent in literature about property protection and building resilience”, with both academic research and stakeholder input highlighting

their unmatched role in containing and extinguishing fires. It also states that “research into the fire resilience of buildings tends to emphasise sprinklers as the primary method of protecting buildings from fire” – a finding that strengthens the Business Sprinkler Alliance’s longstanding advocacy for wider sprinkler adoption.

Stricter ﬁre protection needed

The review highlights that warehouses and industrial facilities in countries such as the US, Sweden and Germany are subject to more rigorous fire protection requirements than in England, noting that “sprinklers are almost always mandatory”. It also found that in countries such as Scotland and New Zealand, stricter fire protection requirements for schools are in place to “reflect the fact that schools are seen as important service-providing buildings and community resources”. The report also observes that historic buildings, despite their cultural value, are rarely treated differently in regulation to domestic buildings. In contrast, countries such as the US and Germany have developed tailored fire safety guidance for heritage sites that balances protection with preservation.

“Sprinklers are prominent in literature about property protection and building resilience”

The review also warns that sustainability and modern methods of construction may compromise ﬁre resilience, particularly in relation to mass timber and modular construction. These methods, it states, have “critical vulnerabilities” including concealed cavities that can accelerate ﬁre spread and the use of combustible materials that are not adequately addressed in current regulations.

In response to the report, the Business Sprinkler Alliance is urging policy-makers to broaden the scope of ﬁre regulations to explicitly include property protection and to consider the wider adoption of automatic sprinklers as a proven, eﬀective measure.

Chair Iain Cox says: “This report validates what we’ve been saying for years – that sprinklers are a cornerstone of resilience, and that we must look at the bigger picture and do more to embed property protection in UK ﬁre safety regulation.”

For more, visit business-sprinkler-alliance.org

MHCLG’s Fire Safety: Property Protection report b.link/MHCLG_safety

CROSS UK Report 1197

Collaborative reporting for safer structures. Report 1197: Incorrect ﬁrestopping by a third-party certiﬁcated contractor

Improper installation of passive ﬁre protection in wall penetrations by a third-party accredited installer

Areporter has raised concerns regarding the improper installation of passive ﬁre protection in a penetration through a compartment wall. Although the installation company possessed the necessary third-party certiﬁcation (TPC), the reporter believed that the operative failed to execute the task with competence.

Comments

TPC is a process whereby an independent, accredited certification body evaluates a company or individual to ensure they are working competently within a quality management system. This assessment verifies that the company or individual adheres to the required standards and best practices specific to a particular service.

A contractor’s TPC should offer assurance that the installation will comply with the necessary standards. This assurance is to be supported by documented evidence, which may include installation specifications, before and after photographs, certifications and details of the products used. Such documentation ensures traceability, a key

“Accredited certiﬁcation bodies need to ensure that there is suﬃcient oversight and rigour of the accreditation and audit processes”

element in maintaining building information and upholding the integrity of the Golden Thread.

An individual or company has to go through a process of application, assessment and auditing to achieve TPC. TPC should enable clients to select installers with greater confidence that the work will be compliant. However, the accredited certification bodies need to ensure that there is sufficient oversight and rigour of the accreditation and audit processes if this position is to be maintained.

CROSS has noted that maintaining a company’s TPC status requires ongoing supervision and training for all staﬀ, not just those evaluated during the accreditation or audit process.

In the case described by the reporter, it appears the accrediting certiﬁcation body failed to adequately scrutinise the installer to ensure competent installation. Relevant trade bodies have repeatedly raised concerns in this area over the years.

CROSS has observed several instances where installation works carried out and certiﬁed by accredited contractors have been subsequently challenged. On each occasion, when the operators of the TPC schemes have been contacted for their opinion, a review or to include the works in their surveillance inspections, these requests have been met with either silence or outright refusal to act. Furthermore, it appears that initiating the removal of an accredited contractor from a TPC scheme is rare, even when their installations are apparently substandard.

The TPC process is, in turn, reliant on the process the accredited certiﬁcation body follows and maintains. Therefore, there must also be assurance that the organisations providing TPC are policed.

In England, Gateway 3 of the Building Safety Act 2022 will mean that for higher-risk buildings (HRBs) the

build must be to the design that has been approved by the regulator, and evidence of this will be required.

It is thought that this will result in a signiﬁcant change and an increase in the number of postinstallation inspections required to meet Gateway 3 and Golden Thread standards. Such measures are expected to substantially improve the quality of ﬁrestopping in HRBs.

For works being carried out on existing buildings, there could be reliance on the Principal Accountable Person understanding there is a requirement to follow a process. It is also worth noting that changes to Building Regulations 2010 also aﬀect clients’ obligations for non-HRBs. Regulation 11A requires that:

1 “a client must make suitable arrangements ... to ensure compliance with all relevant requirements.”

2 “arrangements ... are suitable if (a) they ensure the building work is carried out in accordance with all relevant requirements.”

So, if a completed building turns out to not be “in accordance with all relevant requirements”, the

CROSS UK Report

Comments

Areporter conducting a fire risk assessment of a school encountered inadequate firestopping. This was carried out by a company advertising itself as having achieved third-party certification (TPC) for these services. The reporter came across the same company again on a different project, with similar issues identified.

The company’s website claimed accreditation by a trade body. The reporter challenged these assertions with the trade body, which was then able to get the company to change its misleading statement to “members of (the relevant trade body)”.

However, when the reporter further challenged the quality of the company’s work with the TPC body, they were told that the site where the poor installation had been observed was not registered with it and so was not subject to the scheme. The reporter notes the ﬁrestopping company was deliberately being selective about which projects were registered on the TPC scheme. Similarly, the reporter tells us they have seen ﬁre extinguisher maintenance carried out inadequately by a company registered with a TPC scheme. When this was challenged with the third-party accreditation

Since the provision of fire safety services including firestopping and fire extinguisher servicing is unregulated, clients are reliant upon the apparent credentials offered through TPC. However, in many instances TPC bodies do not provide sufficiently rigorous oversight of those they certify and show a veneer of apparent competence that serves to facilitate the unscrupulous.

CROSS is sad to read that the post-Grenfell culture change, so desperately needed in the industry, still is not there. Clients may be being misled by representations of implied skill and expertise alongside potential unethical behaviours.

The issue may be exacerbated by the demand for work, which outstrips the availability of competent contractors. This is becoming apparent not only in construction but also in ﬁre risk assessments. Businesses that provide these services, especially to the social housing sector, struggle to recruit enough competent people to complete the amount of work that is required.

CROSS has experienced situations where TPC fire risk assessment providers have deployed underqualified staff to complete assessments on higher-risk buildings. The issue of lack of rigorous oversight in TPC schemes can be said to extend to fire risk assessment providers too.

To subscribe to the CROSS UK newsletter (structural and ﬁre safety concerns), visit cross-safety.org/uk/user/register

President’s inauguration

CABE welcomes new President Zoe Cox at the House of Lords in front of family and colleagues

CABE’s presidential inauguration is always an important date in the diary, but even more so in 2025, the Association’s centenary year. The prestigious annual ceremony at the House of Lords felt even more celebratory as presenters and guests reﬂected on this 100-year milestone and looked forward to the future.

Outgoing President Richard Flynn PPCABE

FCABE C.Build E CEng CEnv had the honour of oﬃcially handing over duties to his successor, Zoe Cox PCABE

FCABE C.Build E. IEng. Flynn reﬂected on the ways in which he has both witnessed and taken part in CABE’s engagement and representation across the UK, Ireland and the Asia Paciﬁc region in recent years, noting that engineering remains key to addressing some of society’s biggest challenges. Flynn recalled with fondness his presidential charity walk to

Torc Waterfall in Ireland, which raised a tremendous amount of money for Cork University Hospital (CUH) in memory of his son Brian. The donation will allow CUH to purchase a special piece of medical equipment called the ORBEYE Exoscope, a wonderful legacy for Brian.

In his closing thoughts, Flynn said: “As chartered engineers, we are bound to see continuous improvement, and the same is true for CABE … We will continue to raise standards and develop … better ways to improve the skills and knowledge needed to deliver excellence in the built environment.”

“We will continue to raise standards and develop ways to improve skills and knowledge”

New President Cox has spent more than 20 years in the construction industry, including local authority building control and the academic and university sectors. Currently, she is employed as Technical Training Director at Socotec, leading training in diverse subjects such as

building pathology, building control, ﬁre engineering and health and safety. Prior to that, Cox worked as Head of Training and Development at Quadrant Building Control, and at Sheﬃeld Hallam University as Course Leader in the Department of Natural and Built Environment.

Cox has always been an active member of CABE, ﬁrst elected to the CABE Board as an Ordinary Board Member in 2007 and, having served her tenure, co-opted back onto the Board in 2020. Cox was awarded Fellow Chartered Building Engineer in 2014 and has since been a professional interview panellist for CABE, covering both professional membership applications and the CABE Building Inspector Competence Assessment Scheme (CBICAS) on all building types.

With colleagues and family in attendance, Cox accepted the President’s chain from Flynn and

congratulated him on his time in the role, noting his wonderfully successful fundraising event for CUH.

Cox went on to say: “The past few years have been challenging times for our industry, yet CABE has risen to the challenge. As your President, I will continue to support the great work being done by our staﬀ and members, ensuring that our commitment to the highest standards possible is maintained and developed further.”

Following the inauguration itself, CABE Patron Lord John Lytton took to the stage and commenced the award-giving part of the ceremony, passing certiﬁcates and accolades to the worthy recipients in attendance.

In the words of the Association’s new President: “100 years of CABE and what an incredible journey it has been. I am excited to see what the next 100 will bring.”

Celebrating 50 years

CABE is delighted to have 15 individuals celebrating 50 years of CABE membership this year:

Robert Lockey

MCABE C.Build E

George Thompson

MCABE C.Build E

Michael Easton

FCABE C.Build E

Colin Millward

FCABE C.Build E

IEng

Stephen Barker

PPBEng FCABE

C.Build E

Colin Williams

FCABE C.Build E

Richard Coleman

FCABE C.Build E

James Swift MCABE

C.Build E Retd

Michael Embling

MCABE C.Build E Retd

Michael Carter MCABE

C.Build E Retd

Michael McGinty

MCABE C.Build E Retd

John Shaw MCABE

C.Build E Retd

Alan Barratt FCABE

C.Build E Retd

Michael Larsen FCABE

C. Builde E Retd

Roy Cutt ACABE Retd

It was CABE’s honour to be joined at the inauguration by Stephen Barker to receive his certiﬁcate in person. The other recipients could not attend but the Association thanks each of them for their loyalty and dedication to the industry.

Welcome to the Board

VERONICA FIORE

FCABE C.BUILD E IENG – VICE-PRESIDENT

Associate Director, Hunters – Fiore is a Class 3-Registered Building Inspector with more than 20 years of experience across a variety of sectors. She has been a member of CABE’s Membership and Professional Standards Committee since its inception in 2019 and joined the Board in 2022.

MARIA CAULFIELD

FCABE C.BUILD E IENG –ORDINARY BOARD MEMBER

Commercial Director, Stroma Building Control – Caulﬁeld has worked on a wide range of projects during her 20-year career and is an advocate for raising the standards of professionalism within the construction industry.

DOMINIC WORKMAN

FCABE C.BUILD E IENG –ORDINARY BOARD MEMBER Technical Director, iM2 – Workman transitioned from a career as a building regulations professional to his current role in building safety. He participates in membership panel assessments and the CBICAS interviews and highly values equality.

1 Vice-Presidents

Veronica Fiore and Paul Grinyer, alongside President Zoe Cox and Immediate Past

President Richard Flynn

2 CABE’s Patron

Lord John Lytton FCABE (Hon) was bestowed the Gold Service Award

3 The Honorary Fellowships – 50-year member Stephen Barker, second from right, and Gold Service Award winners Lord Lytton, third from right, and Dave Courtney, ﬁrst left

Honorary Fellowships

CABE was elated to present eight recipients with the accolade of Honorary Fellowship at this year’s inauguration ceremony: Eamonn Smyth

Will Arnold

Jon Vanstone

Dr Rebecca Rees

Ashley Wheaton

Professor Luke Bisby

Dr Hywel Davies

Paul Nash

It was wonderful to have all the recipients and their guests in attendance and CABE thanks them for their unwavering commitment to the built environment.

Peter Stone Award and Gold Awards

Also bestowed on the day was The Peter Stone Award, the Association’s most prestigious, granted this year to Mark Farmer. Author of Modernise or Die: The Farmer Review of the UK Construction Labour Model in 2016, Farmer was appointed as the government’s Champion for Modern Methods of Construction in Housebuilding from 2019-2023. He is an honorary professor at the University of Salford’s School of Built Environment and CEO and founding director of Cast. The Gold Service Award was presented to two winners this year –Dave Courtney FCABE C.Build E CEnv, a CABE member for more than 20 years and a Chartered Fellow for more than a decade. Courtney has sat on the

CABE Board twice, as well as being on the Republic of Ireland Regional Committee in 2022 and stepping in as Acting Chair in September that year.

The second recipient, much to his surprise, was CABE’s very own current Patron, Lord John Lytton FCABE (Hon). The award is in recognition of Lord Lytton’s continuous support of the Association and all the work he has done to share the values of CABE and its objectives throughout the construction industry.

The CABE Presidential and Executive Teams, Board members and all at HQ oﬀer congratulations to all Honorary Fellows and award winners this year and thank them for their continuous support.

Engineers working in a wide range of hazardous process and manufacturing industries, as well as government and institutional facilities, require continuous flame sensing and monitoring equipment to prevent fires. From airports and petrol stations to warehouses and power generation plants – as well as the manufacture of some building materials – the risk of explosion and/or fire is a critical concern because of the fuels, chemicals and processes taking place.

Gases (such as hydrocarbons) burn with very high ﬂame temperatures so a ﬁre detection system that can rapidly sound an alarm is needed. The most

popular systems use optical methods to detect flames; that is, they detect the absorption of light at specific wavelengths. Two common optical flame detector types are combination ultraviolet/infrared (UV/IR) and multi-spectrum infrared (MSIR). Unlike simple UV or IR detectors, UV/IR and MSIR devices are sensitive to more than one band on the energy spectrum and therefore are less likely to produce a false alarm. Both technologies function well either indoors or outdoors and provide a reasonably fast response time.

Whether you should choose a UV/IR or an MSIR

for the environment depends on several factors, such as:

what kind of fuels are in use at the facility, such as alcohols, gasoline, LNG (liqueﬁed natural gas used in power plants), LPG (liqueﬁed petroleum gas) or solvents?

are there other types of radiant energy in use at the facility, such as arc welding, hot objects or direct sunlight? The flame detectors should be able to distinguish between these non-fire energy sources and real flames. Typically, MSIR detectors provide the best immunity to these types of false alarms how high is the risk of air-borne particulates should a fire occur?

“It should be clear which optical ﬂame detection system is correct for the environment”

Smoke, oil, grease and some chemical vapours can reduce a UV/IR unit’s detection range – so if, for example, heavy smoke is a concern, MSIR technology should be considered; and how wide an area does the device need to monitor? Different UV/IR and MSIR units offer varying detection ranges and fields of view (FoV).

Strengths and weaknesses

Once the requirements have been identiﬁed, then it should be straightforward to identify which system is best for the facility.

An MSIR detection system has high sensitivity and extended FoV so is best for large areas. It is less affected by dirty, oily environments and is best for likely smoky/sooty fires. Its weaknesses are that it needs careful aiming to avoid flares and other radiant energy sources. It also has a slightly slower alarm response.

UV/IR has a wide 60° FoV so is optimal for short, wider spaces and it has a fast alarm response. However, it can be more easily blinded by silicone flame, dirt, soot, oil, solvent vapors, water and ice. It can also be tricked by reflected UV light at long distances. It should be clear which optical flame detection system is correct for the environment – it can mean the difference between a swift response and a catastrophic fire.

For a comprehensive overview of ﬂame detectors, such as operating principles and coverage, download Flame Detection Handbook at b.link/MSASafety_ﬂame

With the Grenfell Tower tragedy bringing fire safety in higher-risk buildings (HRB) sharply into focus, understanding the role of risers is vital. Risers are a dedicated space for the distribution of utilities and essential services including water, gas and electricity, as well as waste pipes, ventilation, air conditioning and multimedia cables. They run vertically through a building or along an incline between different floors and levels, and feature a series of hatches and doors that allow access for maintenance.

This vertical passage connects every floor in the building and is essentially a chimney. The Grenfell tragedy itself involved the chimney effect of the cavity in between the cladding and the main structure of the building, enabling the fire to spread. The King’s Cross station fire of 1987 is another example that involved a shaft ‘trench effect’, when a discarded match

Blind spot

All eyes are on preventing falls, but the role of riser shafts in reducing ﬁres is woefully misunderstood, say Ambar Kelly’s Alex Bardett and Nick Atkinson

lit a combustible material and the ﬁre rose in the ‘trench’ of the wooden escalators.

At the Tall Buildings Fire Safety Conference in December, Ambar Kelly’s Director Nick Atkinson noted that riser shafts are often concealed once buildings are completed, so the issue can remain a blind spot in construction and mask the ongoing threat. This is made worse, he said, by the fact that “75% of the tall buildings under construction in London are using [glass-reinforced plastic] GRP riser ﬂoor products made from Euroclass C combustible materials. While these products prevent falls, they overlook the severe risk of smoke and ﬂame spread.”

So, what steps can be taken to avoid this chimney eﬀect in buildings?

Slips, falls and ﬁres

A riser shaft starts its life as a series of holes; one floor above the other, walls are installed around the holes, then they are filled in with the necessary mechanical, electrical and plumbing services required to serve the building. Once the services are installed, they are closed off with doors, but before this happens there is a fall from height risk that must be mitigated. This risk from falls and slips can be mitigated by adopting GRP grating and installing temporary or permanent floors in the riser shaft . One of the most common and effective materials for riser shaft floors is GRP grating as it is nonslip and non-conductive, but there is a problem with this material that we will come back to.

Because riser shafts also play a vital role in fire safety, they require fire-rated materials and proper sealing to prevent the spread of fire and smoke between floors. There are strict health and safety regulations for riser shafts set out in the UK government’s Approved Document B to mitigate the spread of fires. It states they must be walled in to create a protected shaft designed to stop fire and smoke from spreading outwards onto the floor of a building or from one level to another. And with the threat of a fire trench forming, the materials themselves become all-important. Non-combustible steel plate materials, featuring pre-cut holes for mechanical and electrical services that are covered by a lid, are preferable but often seen as too expensive. While it is true the initial cost will typically be more, that cost will not increase as the project progresses.

GRP grating riser flooring options are cheaper, but that cost will increase over time due to post-installation works. For example, GRP grating has to have holes cut into it to account for any services being fed through. Temporary fire doors will need to be fitted on every floor to meet codes of practice and prevent the spread of fire during construction as grating, by its very nature, allows smoke and flame to pass through. This increases the overall project cost in the long run.

Fire ratings and combustibility

From March 2025, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government conﬁrmed that the national British Standard BS 476, which relates to reaction and resistance to ﬁre and roofs, has begun to be phased out from Approved Document B and

75% of the tall buildings under construction in london are using grp riser floor products made from euroclass c combustible materials

will be removed completely by September 2029. Additional updates include Parts 6 and 7, which will require construction products to be classified in accordance with EN13501-1, with performance classes A1 and A2 for non-combustible products and B, C, D and E for combustible products. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry found this surface spread of flame test (BS 476 Part 6 and 7) does not measure combustibility, which why it is being phased out. However, products are often labelled as having a fire rating – that does not mean they are not combustible. Specifiers will often see suppliers promoting products that have a BS 476 Part 6 and 7 fire rating, which is actually a measure of the spread of flame. This is typical for GRP grating used by UK contractors as a riser flooring solution. Throughout the construction industry, it is widely believed that GRP is non-combustible as it is labelled fire-resistant. But all GRP grating is combustible – it is woven glass fibre strands bound together with various resins that are derivatives of crude oil – and will add fuel to any fire that occurs in a riser shaft . Moreover, a shaft will exacerbate a fire, and the combustible nature of GRP could turn a simple cellulosebased fire into a much fiercer hydrocarbon fire. Regulation changes focus on fire testing and certification, but more education

is needed on modular riser ﬂooring and non-combustible products.

If the designed product for riser flooring in an HRB is specified as non-combustible at Gateway 2, contractors may believe the GRP grating has the required fire rating and attempt to hand the project over to Gateway 3. Despite it having a BS 476 Part 6 or 7 declaration, it is combustible, meaning it will likely be rejected.

The (lack of) responsibilities and the product chain

Mistaken assumptions of responsibility (or lack of) can mean a contractor will be under the impression that the product’s supposed ﬁre rating is correct, handing over the project to the next person in the chain. Indeed, there are occasions when a main contractor will say: “The sub-contractor has bought it and said it’s ﬁre-rated, so it’s not my problem.”

Unfortunately, the main contractor will often hold all the risk and they will not even realise it.

Atkinson points out that the present approach to riser ﬂooring has no single point of responsibility.

“The risk of ﬁre through a shaft during construction is often not added to the risk register to manage. This is against Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015

“Helping suppliers and main contractors understand the beneﬁts of non-combustible materials will go a long way”

(General Principles of Prevention), page 8 section 5a: ‘Avoid risk in design where possible’.

“The Principal Contractor is least of all concerned with ﬂooring design in a riser; their attention is on the risk of falling from height, as this presents the immediate risk during the construction of the structural frame. They perceive falling from height to be the responsibility of the subcontractor … the subcontractor’s solution to the fall from height risk is aﬀected by their desire to stay within budget.

“The subcontractor building the structural frame therefore essentially becomes the designer and installer of the temporary riser protection, with the Principal Contractor then promoting this as the permanent riser ﬂooring.”

Non-combustible steel plate materials, featuring pre-cut holes for mechanical and electrical services that are covered by a lid

If a non-combustible class A1 steel riser flooring product is specified in Gateway 2 and replaced by a combustible Class C GRP product, this needs to be recorded in the change control plan so the impact of these combustibility changes can be considered by the relevant teams. Furthermore, it must be documented before the Building Safety Regulator signs off the building for handover at Gateway 3.

While it is essential that contractors know their responsibilities if they change a speciﬁed noncombustible product for a cheaper combustible alternative, suppliers also play a huge role. Their products must be tested and certiﬁed to EN13501-1 to allow design teams and contractors to make an informed comparison between products.

This is why education is key. Helping suppliers and main contractors understand the benefits of noncombustible materials will go a long way towards improving fire safety in the built environment. “While the updated fire safety regulations are attempting to improve accountability and encourage those in the industry to utilise noncombustible materials, often specifiers will choose outdated and combustible alternatives due to a lack of understanding and misconceived ideas of cost-effectiveness,” Atkinson notes. All contractors need to understand that GRP is combustible.

Non-combustible materials not only ensure greater fall protection for those working in the riser shaft , but also act as a horizontal fire break to significantly reduce the spread of fire and smoke.

As Atkinson comments: “It’s down to everyone in the industry to ensure that the hidden risks of risers are exposed and increase awareness of the importance of non-combustible solutions – with the overall aim of enhancing the safety of contractors and occupants.”

For more, visit b.link/FPA_risershafts

Read Approved Document B at b.link/GOV_DocB

Wood is increasingly promoted as a sustainable option for building exteriors and façades due to its many environmental advantages. Wood is renewable, breaks down naturally, has a low environmental impact and offers excellent insulation and flexibility in design. As efforts to reduce carbon emissions in construction grow, wood has seen a renewed interest as a sustainable choice.

Nevertheless, wood has some limitations. It can be affected by exposure to sunlight, rain, fungi and insects, which can cause it to degrade over time. To improve its longevity, wood requires regular care, such as applying protective coatings or treatments. Another concern is that wood is naturally flammable, which poses safety challenges. These risks can be managed by using fire-resistant treatments, such as special coatings or preservatives, to improve its fire safety. It is worth noting however, that some of these treatments can influence how wood behaves when exposed to fire, making careful selection essential to ensure compliance with safety standards.

The ‘Experimental Study of Effect of Coatings on Combustion Characteristics of Wood’ project originated as Enya Zhang’s undergraduate research internship at the University of Central Lancashire in 2023 and was expanded with Institute of Fire Safety Managers’ (IFSM) support in 2024 to help the advancement of fire safety knowledge. The study examined how wood preservatives affect the burning behaviour of Swedish pine decking (due to its widespread use in construction and furniture).

Behaviour under heat

Pyrolysis refers to the thermal decomposition of materials when exposed to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Wood’s fire performance is largely influenced by its composition, which includes three main natural polymers: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Each of these breaks down at different temperature ranges.

Cellulose, the primary structural component of plant cell walls, decomposes and releases gases at temperatures between 240 and 350°C. Hemicellulose, a less stable polymer found alongside cellulose, decomposes at lower temperatures – around 200 to 260°C.

Lignin, a complex polymer that gives wood its rigidity, has a broader decomposition range of 280 to 500°C. These diﬀerences

Good with wood

Enya Zhang, a student at the University of Central Lancashire, has completed IFSM-funded research exploring the impact of coatings on wood combustion

1 Cone calorimeter test in progress

2 Calibration of cone calorimeter

3 Wood powder sample ﬁlled in aluminum crucible to be tested in thermogravimetric analysis 3

preservatives help increase the amount of char formed when wood is heated.

The experiments

Using a cone calorimeter (which measures key parameters such as heat release rate, ignition time, smoke production and mass loss during combustion), the heat release rates and ignition times were measured for five different samples treated with three types of water-based preservatives. The cone calorimeter is particularly valuable to evaluate their effectiveness in slowing down or mitigating fire spread. These results were then compared to untreated samples and those treated with fire retardants.

models for ﬁre safety engineers, product designers and ﬁre simulation tools.

The experiments showed that higher heat exposure caused all samples to ignite faster. Additionally, samples treated with wood preservatives and ﬁre retardants produced more carbon monoxide when exposed to higher heating rates.

The findings suggest that applying preservatives after a fire-retardant coating can reduce fire performance. The degree of impact depends on the composition and concentration of the preservatives.

“As eﬀorts to reduce carbon emissions grow, wood has seen a renewed interest”

in decomposition temperatures inﬂuence how wood behaves under heat.

When wood is exposed to heat, water is the ﬁrst to evaporate at around 100°C. Once the wood dries out, it begins to degrade, releasing volatile gases such as formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and other compounds. Alongside these gases, a solid residue known as char is formed. Char acts as a protective layer, insulating the remaining wood beneath it from further heat penetration and slowing down the pyrolysis process. Fire-retardant

Heat release rate (HRR) and peak HRR are critical metrics used to assess the flame retardancy and flammability of construction materials, including wood. HRR represents the rate at which a material releases heat during combustion, while the peak HRR indicates the highest rate of heat release observed during a test. Both parameters help evaluate how materials perform under fire exposure, such as how easily they ignite and how intensely they burn.

For further insights, thermogravimetric analysis was carried out to study how the samples reacted to heat. This helped identify reaction rates and key temperature points, which can be used to develop

Legislation

In the UK and internationally, there are various guidelines and standards for preserving wood. One of these is BS EN 350, which outlines how wood should be tested and classified based on its durability and how well it responds to treatments. Wood is rated in categories from ‘easy’ to ‘extremely difficult’ for treatment and ‘very durable’ to ‘not durable’ for longevity. Another standard, BS 335, is similar to BS EN 350 in its classification approach, but focuses on how

While this research was an academic study, the results do have practical implications. As Zhang states: “Boron-based ﬁre retardant can eﬀectively reduce the peak and total heat release rate and postpone the time of ignition. However, it increases the CO production rate, which may pose risks to occupants during evacuation.”

The results of this research have already been shared at the Fire Safety Façade and ICFSER conferences. The IFSM hopes Zhang’s study findings will be of interest to fire engineers and safety professionals, providing valuable insights into the interaction between fire retardants and wood treatments.

The full research ﬁndings are available at b.link/IFSM_research

wood and wood-based products withstand environmental exposure – with ratings from Class 1 to Class 3 based on their susceptibility to damage.

The UK Building Regulations, particularly Part B, establish legal requirements for fire safety in buildings. These include provisions for warning systems and escape routes, controlling fire spread within structures and ensuring fire safety for building exteriors. Approved Document B provides detailed guidance on meeting these

requirements, referencing standards such as BS 9999 and BS 7974-6 for complex building designs that need tailored solutions. These documents regulate the fire resistance levels of materials used in different parts of a building, specifying classification grades based on standardised tests. However, none of these standards address or warn about how coatings applied to wood façades might affect their fire safety once the materials are in use.

Built in 1874, 15 Old Bailey (next to the law courts) was once known as the Spiers & Pond Hotel and was the first ever hotel in London to have electric lighting. In the early 1900s it was remodelled into 64 serviced offices. By 2024, this Grade II listed building was transformed again, from offices back into a hotel with 110 bedrooms, a fitness centre, a restaurant and a speakeasy bar in the basement.

The renovation included extensive upgrades as well as a change of use, while considering the building’s heritage and design. There were also significant considerations to meet the fire safety regulation requirements for the seven-storey building. The following fire safety strategy uses fire engineering techniques (also known as performance-based design). A key focus was on using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling for the smoke shaft design.

Smoke ventilation system

of ﬁreﬁghting shaft

Old Bailey trial

Trigon Fire Safety’s Karl Wallasch discusses the application of ﬁre engineering on a smoke shaft design for a listed building’s hotel refurbishment

Approved Document B (ADB) recommends that a firefighting staircase and a firefighters’ lift should be approached from the accommodation through a firefighting lobby. For firefighting shafts, ADB refers to the guidance in BS 9999. Both the firefighting stair and lobby should be provided with a means of venting smoke and heat by following clause 27.1 of BS 9999. As per this clause, firefighting lobbies should be provided with smoke control systems by means of either a pressure differential system, a mechanical smoke ventilation system or a natural smoke ventilation system. Fire engineering techniques (also known as performance-based design) were applied. The proposal for this project was to provide a mechanical smoke extraction system to serve the firefighting lobbies at basement, ground and first- to sixth-floor levels, with smoke extraction at ground-floor level via the external wall onto

Overview of key ﬁre safety features

Item

Comment

Legislation:Building Regulations 2010

Guidance:Approved Document B, Volume 2

Evacuation type:Simultaneous evacuation

Fire detection:Automatic ﬁre detection and alarm

No and type of stairs:One escape staircase and one ﬁreﬁghting staircase

Elements of structure:90 minutes of ﬁre resistance

Compartment ﬂoors: 90 minutes of ﬁre resistance

Hotel room corridors: 30 minutes of ﬁre resistance

Fire service access: Via a firefighting shaft (FFS) due to the building’s height; including firefighters’ lift and dry riser

Ventilation to FFS: Mechanical smoke extract shaft in ﬁreﬁghting lobby and automatic openable vent (AOV) at head of stair

Basement smoke ventilation:Mechanical smoke ventilation achieving at least ten air changes per hour

Suppression system: Water mist system (in the basement level only)

Green Arbour Court. The extract location would typically be located at roof level, so that smoke is extracted upwards however, due to space restrictions this was not a feasible option. The proposal for the seventh ﬂoor was to allow for natural smoke ventilation in the lobby via an opening to roof level.

In accordance with standard guidance, where mechanical smoke extract is being used, the system should be designed to demonstrate equivalent or better conditions in the staircase than would be provided by a natural smoke shaft solution, thereby conforming to the recommendations of BS 9999 and as described in BRE Project Report 79204.

BS 9999 states that the primary objective of the system should be to maintain smokefree conditions in the staircase during both means of escape and ﬁreﬁghting operations. It is therefore considered that the key criteria for acceptance should be that the conditions are no worse in the staircase enclosure.

CFD modelling

In order to provide a comparative study between the proposed mechanical system and a natural solution, designed in line with the recommendations of BS 9999, the performance of both systems was evaluated using CFD modelling (see Figure 1). Provided the agreed model demonstrated an equivalent, or better, performance compared to the natural solution, it would be considered to meet the functional requirements of the Building Regulations 2010.

As part of the approval process, the building control body involved an independent third-party reviewer for the aspect of the CFD modelling.

The design team engaged with both at an early stage of the development of the initial fire safety when it was identified that fire engineering (in form of CFD modelling) would be applied.

Detailed discussion took place about the proposed approach, methodology and general assumptions to be used in the CFD modelling

study. Only after agreeing on the approach and key parameters was the detailed CFD modelling conducted. After completing the CFD modelling and report, further discussions with building control took place – these led to a comprehensive ﬁnal report for building regulations approval.

Natural smoke shaft solution

Recommendations for natural venting include: smoke shaft area of 3.0m² lobby vent located near the ceiling

Figure 1: Example of 3D geometry used in CFD modelling for fire located at first floor

AOV at head of stair

Stair

Fire location

The Grade II listed building now has one escape staircase and one ﬁreﬁghting staircase

lobby vent to open based on detection of smoke in the corridor; and automatic opening vent at the shaft head.

Mechanical smoke shaft solution

The mechanical smoke extract system has been provided with ‘lobby vents’ between the mechanical extract shaft and the lobbies at each ﬂoor level. The lobby vents were located as close to the ceiling as is practicable and at least as high as the top of the door connecting the lobby to the stair well.

Upon the detection of smoke in the common corridor, the lobby vent, head of stair vent and fans associated with the mechanical smoke extract system would initiate the ventilation afforded to the protected lobby. The lobby has been provided with a pressure flow switch, designed to vary the extract rate of the mechanical smoke extract system based on the pressure detected in the firefighting lobby.

Unlike a typical smoke extract system, the proposed system was designed to discharge smoke via the external wall at lower level as opposed to discharging the smoke upwards and at roof level. This is due to the constraints created by the existing structure and limited plant space at roof level. Therefore, the fan was located at the mezzanine level between the ground and ﬁrst ﬂoors.

A number of considerations played an important role in the CFD modelling: fire scenarios and locations: fire locations at sixth floor level, first floor and basement level reasonable worst case fire scenarios: worst case during means of escape phase as well as firefighting phase software: Fire Dynamics Simulator by National Institute of Standards and Technology Version 6 cell sizes: 10x10x10cm leakage rate through doors and lifts: vary between 0.01 – 0.02m2

The results

The CFD report showed that the mechanical system performs at least as well as a natural ventilation system during escape and firefighting. The following key items were considered during this review: heat release rate for each fire scenario visibility (m) in stair, lobby and corridor temperature (°C) in stair, lobby and corridor (see Figure 2) pressure (Pa) in fire room, stair, lobby and corridor; and air/smoke spread and movement in fire room, firefighting stair, firefighting lobby, corridor and smoke shaft CFD modelling confirmed that the mechanical smoke extract solution meets Building Regulations requirements and performs better than a natural solution. It was necessary to create a fire safety strategy for converting 15 Old Bailey into a luxury hotel however, this case study also highlights the importance of early co-ordination among stakeholders in managing fire safety risks.

For more, visit trigonﬁre.com

Figure 2: Temperature slice (blue = 20°C; red = >110°C) – horizontal section at ﬁrst ﬂoor

Fire location

INDUSTRY OPINION

Fire Engineer Andrea White discusses complexity versus competence in ﬁre safety – and how the gap between them has widened during her time in the industry

Andrea White

MSc BSc (Hons)

IEng FIFireE

C.BuildE FCABE

CFIOSH is an independent Fire Engineer and Founder of Women Talking Fire, a networking support group for women (and male allies) in the UK ﬁre safety industry. In 2023, White was voted one of the top 100 most inﬂuential women in the construction industry.

Over my 25-year career, I’ve witnessed a growing gap between complexity and competence. Firstly, we’re building with less robust, more combustible materials than we were 50 years ago.

Where we were building with non-combustible concrete and solid masonry, we’re now incorporating combustible insulation and greater amounts of timber in our buildings.

Secondly, if we compare the quality of workmanship in terms of design, construction and install, it’s dramatically lower than several decades ago.

Sadly, I do not see pride in the job. All too often I see signiﬁcant corner-cutting in the buildings that I inspect, especially in areas that are hidden such as passive ﬁre protection.

So, our buildings are less resilient than they used to be and they are less inherently ﬁre safe because of the materials used. There is a much higher level of complexity involved in designing and building appropriate levels of ﬁre safety into modern construction.

We’ve introduced more failure points into the system, rather like the Swiss cheese model of accident causation (developed by James Reason, this illustrates how accidents often result from a combination of weaknesses in multiple layers of defence rather than a single failure). This means

we need greater knowledge and skills from those involved in designing buildings, more oversight of the construction process and diligent ongoing management of our buildings – we need those working in the industry to be more competent.

Back to school

We have a number of organisations that have created competency criteria for ﬁre safety roles. It’s a good start but, in my opinion, they don’t go into an adequate enough level of detail to be meaningful. In a poll I ran at a conference last year, 96% of people agreed that more speciﬁcs were needed in terms of training topics within competence frameworks.

The next question is whether training courses are meaningfully using those competence frameworks to decide what topics to cover – my research suggests that often they are not.

Based on my time sitting in classrooms, I would also say that often those teaching the subject are only knowledgeable to the level of training they’re giving. They’re not sufficiently qualified beyond that level to be able to answer students’ questions. PowerPoint makes it very easy for trainers to just read off slides, which may well have been written by someone else. And I found that tutors offer their version of an explanation, which may not be correct.

When a degradation of competence is combined with today’s less resilient construction, the gap between our building stock’s complexity and industry competence widens. Quite how each of us can address this problem seems to be the real question we should all now be asking.

Do you have an opinion on the industry? E-mail the editor at cabe@redactive.co.uk

Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous across various industries due to their high energy density, long life-cycle and lightweight design. However, their potential to overheat, combust and even explode has raised signiﬁcant safety concerns, particularly when it comes to storage. With a rising number of ﬁre incidents linked to lithium-ion batteries (including lithium iron phosphate batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy storage, and lithiumion polymer batteries used in wearable and portable devices), there is increasing demand for enhanced regulatory measures and best practices to mitigate these risks. Such incidents include:

In February 2024 a recycling plant ﬁre in Rousset, south-eastern France,

experienced a major fire while storing 900 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries. The fire took days to fully extinguish and raised serious environmental concerns, particularly regarding potential water contamination from firefighting runoff. This incident underscored the importance of rigorous storage protocols, especially in facilities managing end-of-life batteries, which are more prone to instability.

In July 2023, a fire aboard the cargo ship Fremantle Highway off the coast of the Netherlands resulted in the death of one crew member and injuries to several others. The ship, carrying nearly 3,000 vehicles including EVs, likely saw its fire triggered by lithium-ion batteries. The fire spread rapidly, demonstrating the danger posed by the transport of large

quantities of EVs and the inadequacy of existing ﬁre suppression measures.

In early 2024, a ﬁre broke out in a storage facility in Leicester, UK, due to improperly stored electric scooters powered by lithium-ion batteries. The lack of proper ventilation and ﬁre suppression systems exacerbated the situation.

Latest insurance industry guidance

In response to battery-related ﬁres, the insurance industry, including providers such as Aviva, issued updated guidance on the safe handling and storage of lithium-ion batteries. Key recommendations include: temperature control – batteries should be stored in cool, dry environments, ideally between 40-80°F (room temperature is acceptable), and away

Brodie, Managing Direc tor of Ch

from direct sunlight, water and humidity to prevent overheating and degradation protection from physical damage – store batteries in secure, wellventilated metal cabinets or containers to prevent accidental damage, which could increase the risk of short-circuiting or fire isolation of terminals – use terminal covers to prevent contact with other terminals or metal surfaces, which could lead to short circuits separation from flammable materials – keep lithium-ion batteries away from other flammable items to reduce the risk of fire spread in case of an incident fire protection systems – install sprinkler systems or, where not feasible, have fire extinguishing tools such as dry powder, carbon dioxide

ideally between 40°80°F the temperature that batteries should be stored at in cool, dry environments

extinguishers or water mist on hand. However, in case of a fire, flooding the battery with water is the primary method for controlling lithium-ion fires fire risk assessments – conduct regular fire risk assessments, especially in facilities storing larger quantities of batteries, to ensure fire safety compliance and readiness for an emergency monitoring for overheating – use thermographic cameras to detect hot spots and monitor batteries for signs of overheating or ‘thermal runaway’ events, where a battery overheats uncontrollably; and battery condition checks – regular inspections for signs of damage or ageing can help prevent incidents. Damaged batteries should be removed immediately from storage and isolated to minimise risks. These measures aim to prevent incidents, safeguard assets and align with relevant UK fire safety standards.

British Safety Council Guidance

and regulatory bodies (such as the Environment Agency and the GB Health and Safety Executive) before approving large-scale battery storage facilities to ensure ﬁre and environmental safety. It requires online marketplaces to ensure that all products with lithium-ion batteries meet established safety regulations, helping prevent the sale of substandard, potentially hazardous products.

Additionally, it sets safety standards for micromobility devices like e-bikes and e-scooters, requiring them to display compliance marks (CE or UKCA) after safety assessments. It also mandates the development of safe disposal protocols for lithium-ion batteries to mitigate ﬁre risks in waste management systems.

While the Lithium-Ion Battery Safety Bill brings much-needed attention to lithium-ion battery safety, it oﬀers little for businesses looking for direction on handling and storing batteries safely.

“There is increasing demand for enhanced regulatory measures to mitigate risks”

In February 2024, the British Safety Council released an introductory guide for employers on managing the risks associated with lithium-ion batteries in the workplace such as laptops, smartphones and wearables, with a particular focus on the challenges around the storage of e-bikes and e-scooters. The guide recommends employers should conduct thorough risk assessments, establish clear policies for charging and cable compliance and provide designated charging facilities to control hazards effectively. It also recommends having emergency response plans tailored to the unique firefighting requirements for lithiumion batteries. Chemstore’s fire-resistant storage cabinets, for example, are engineered to ensure quick access for emergency services while containing the fire and preventing it from spreading to other parts of the facility.

Battery Safety Bill

The Lithium-Ion Battery Safety Bill, which underwent its ﬁrst reading on 6 September 2024, aims to enhance safety standards for lithium-ion battery usage, storage and disposal. Key provisions include mandating that local planning authorities consult with ﬁre services

Another Bill, the LithiumIon Battery Storage (Fire Safety and Environmental Permits) Bill introduced in the UK House of Commons in September 2022, did more to address it. That Bill however, focused primarily on regulatory oversight for industrial lithium-ion battery storage facilities and did not advance beyond its ﬁrst reading. It remains to be seen how far the Lithium-Ion Battery Safety Bill will progress. However, there is some speculation that its provisions could instead be incorporated into the Product Safety and Metrology Bill, which is also looking to address e-bike safety.

Lithium-ion battery safety is an evolving area of law, which can sometimes leave businesses seeking guidance on their safe handling and storage with more questions than answers. However, by keeping up to date with the latest guidance and best practices, companies can greatly reduce the risk of ﬁres, explosions and environmental harm.

For more, visit chemstore.co.uk

Guidance on the safe handling and storage of lithium-ion batteries

b.link/Aviva_lithium-ion

British Safety Council guidance

b.link/BSC_lithium-ion

Further Aviva guidance

b.link/Aviva_management

As lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery-powered devices become increasingly prevalent, so too do the fire risks they pose –particularly in residential settings. For building engineers, this presents a critical challenge: how can fire safety strategies be adapted to address the unique hazards of Li-ion battery fires?

Fire safety in residential construction has traditionally relied on standardised models, such as those outlined in BS 7974 for fire engineering design. These models categorise fire growth as slow, medium, fast or ultra-fast, based on predictable heat release rate curves from conventional materials such as wood and textiles. However, Li-ion batteries introduce unique and unprecedented fire risks that challenge these assumptions: rapid escalation: a thermal runaway can cause Li-ion batteries to ignite within seconds, producing heat release rates that exceed traditional fire growth scenarios intense heat and toxic smoke: fires can reach temperatures above 1,000°C and emit harmful toxic gases, including hydrogen fluoride and carbon monoxide, which pose severe safety risks to building occupants and emergency responders; and reignition potential: damaged cells often reignite due to latent heat, complicating fire suppression and recovery efforts. These characteristics demand a re-evaluation of fire safety strategies in residential construction.

Demographics and ﬁre risks

The increasing adoption of e-bikes and e-scooters highlights how demographic trends influence fire risks in residential buildings. Younger adults, commuters and lower-income populations frequently rely on e-bikes as affordable and sustainable transport. Many live in flats or multi-occupied buildings, where indoor charging and storage heighten fire risks in densely populated spaces. Gig economy workers, such as food couriers, heavily depend on e-bikes. Some use cheaper, uncertified batteries that lack essential safety features, increasing the likelihood of thermal runaway events. Seniors are increasingly adopting e-bikes for recreational purposes, often charging them at home without full awareness of the associated risks, particularly in suburban and rural settings with fewer safety controls.

The ease of availability of unregulated, untested and uncertiﬁed or counterfeit batteries, both in the UK and abroad, exacerbates risks,

Safe as houses?

CABE member Kabbe Njie, Principal Engineer Fire & Life Safety Systems at Heathrow Airport,

discusses the growing ﬁre risks of lithium-ion batteries in residential buildings

The aftermath of a lithium-ion battery ﬁre in a property in Kingston upon Thames, London

particularly in areas with weaker safety standards or enforcement. In 2023, London Fire Brigade alone attended a ﬁre every two days related to e-bikes and e-scooters, many caused by incompatible, defective or poorly manufactured parts. In October 2024, the Department for Business and Trade launched a ‘Buy Safe, Be Safe’ campaign urging the public to avoid rogue online sellers. It is important to note that smartphones, devices and wearables that use Li-ion polymer batteries are just as much of a concern if bought from uncertiﬁed sources or charged incorrectly.

UK regulatory context

In the UK, fire safety is governed by a relatively robust design and construction framework, with associated guidance included in documents such as the revised BS 9991 (Fire safety in residential buildings), BS 5839-6 (Fire detection systems in dwellings) and Approved Document B of the Building Regulations. While fairly comprehensive, these standards primarily address conventional fire scenarios and may not fully account for the violent and accelerated dynamics of Li-ion battery fires. Li-ion battery fires challenge existing regulations in several key ways: underestimated fire growth rates. The ultra-fast escalation of these fires may exceed current assumptions used to inform suppression and detection system designs. Detection and warning may not always be installed in all areas in a dwelling where a fire may start, specifically in lounges or bedrooms if the system is designed and installed in accordance with previous (now superseded) iterations of BS 5839, for example material limitations. Construction materials tested against conventional fires may not withstand the intense, localised heat of Li-ion fires; and charging and storage risks. Existing residential buildings often lack designated e-bike charging spaces, leading to unsafe practices such as charging devices in hallways, kitchens or bedrooms – though the same can be said for all devices.

Being proactive

Building engineers must act decisively to address these emerging risks by:

e-bike legal action

Twelve survivors of an e-bike battery ﬁre in an overcrowded ﬂat have launched legal action against their landlords and the battery’s manufacturer. The explosion was found by a coroner to have been caused by a faulty e-bike battery. They are suing Leon Cycle Ltd for negligence and under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and the landlords of the property for negligence and under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957.

2 Strengthening battery standards and advocating for stricter UK-speciﬁc regulations to ensure that all batteries, chargers and related products meet rigorous safety requirements, reducing the prevalence of substandard or counterfeit products.

3 Developing advanced suppression systems. Research is needed into the detection and suppression technologies tailored to Li-ion fires, such as thermal sensors and extinguishing agents beyond traditional water sprinkler systems aligning with BS 5839-6, water mist technologies and standards. Early studies have shown that water mist may be an effective method of containment in a Li-ion battery fire.

4 Designing safer residential spaces. Dedicated e-bike charging and storage areas with integrated ﬁre suppression systems should be incorporated into new residential developments. This may necessitate measures above the national minimum standard in some cases.

5 Raising public awareness through partnership and collaborative working with local ﬁre and rescue services and campaign groups. Speciﬁc demographic groups most likely to use Li-ion batteries need to be educated on safe charging, proper handling and storage practices.

1 updating ﬁre growth models to incorporate the unique characteristics of Li-ion ﬁres, including rapid escalation and toxic emissions, into UK-standard models such as BS 7974.

“The growing prevalence of Li-ion batteries in residential settings represents both a challenge and an opportunity for UK building engineers”

Voluntary uplifts in the level of detection and warning installed in domestic dwellings above the prescribed minimum (where a lower standard is recommended in guidance) – as well as active, targeted water mist fire-protection systems and a program of education – may go some way towards positively influencing the outcomes for those involved or affected by fire incidents in any residential setting. The growing prevalence of Li-ion batteries in residential settings represents both a challenge and an opportunity for UK building engineers. By addressing the unique fire risks these batteries pose, the industry can safeguard lives and properties while supporting the continued adoption of sustainable micromobility solutions. This shift requires collaboration across fire science, urban planning and public education to ensure that standards, technologies and building designs evolve in step with new and emerging risks. By taking proactive measures, the UK’s building engineering community can lead the way in creating safer, more resilient residential environments for the future.

Over the past 30 years, water-mist technology has increasingly been recognised as an eﬀective method for protecting buildings and their occupants from ﬁre hazards.

This article serves as a comprehensive guide to understanding what mist systems can and cannot do, current technological advancements and the standards to which these systems should be designed and installed. It aims to assist those looking to procure, specify or approve water-mist systems.

One of the principal benefits of watermist systems is their ability to overcome water supply or storage constraints. Unlike traditional sprinkler systems, which rely on specific water application rates and density, water-mist systems are designed based on the layout of the nozzles, the number of nozzles within the design area and the respective pressure and K-factor (volumetric flow rate) at those nozzles.

The water supply is determined by the most favourable hydraulic calculation, considering either the maximum number of nozzles within the design area or the maximum pressure at which they are subjected. Water-mist fire suppression systems utilise fine droplets of water to control, suppress or extinguish fires. These systems have gained popularity due to their efficiency in reducing fire damage and their suitability for various applications. Unlike traditional sprinkler or gas extinguishing systems, water-mist technology

d s an o

BAFSA provides an overview of the technology, standards and applications of watermist ﬁre protection systems

is highly speciﬁc to the premises, application and the manufacturer. Water-mist technology has also seen signiﬁcant advancements over the past three decades. Innovations in nozzle design, water delivery systems and droplet size optimisation have enhanced the performance of water-mist systems and expanded the range of applications, making it a viable option for residential, commercial and industrial settings.

Standards and specs

The standards governing watermist ﬁre suppression systems are undergoing substantial changes. The new European norm (EN) standard for residential water-mist systems, EN 14972-17, is set to be published as a BS EN by summer 2025. This new standard will necessitate the withdrawal of BS 8458 within approximately six months of its publication. Additionally, Warrington FIRAS, which certiﬁes many

water-mist installers, has closed its schemes. Certiﬁcates issued under Annex C of BS 8458 will no longer be valid after 31 August 2025.

The primary design objectives for all fire suppression systems, including water mist, are to extinguish, suppress or control fires. Each water-mist manufacturer employs proprietary technology to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of water droplet deployment. This technology varies depending on the manufacturer and the specific application, affecting both the nozzle design and the means of water delivery.

Each hazard or occupancy type requires a very specific design, detailed in the manufacturer’s design, installation, operation and maintenance (DIOM) manual. This specificity ensures that the system is tailored to effectively address the particular fire hazards associated with the environment in which it is installed.

Water supply and storage

Water-mist systems require less water storage compared to sprinkler systems; some high-pressure watermist systems may not require any storage at all. This reduced water requirement can be a signiﬁcant beneﬁt in domestic and residential applications, where space may be limited.

Lower water application rates also help minimise collateral damage caused by water following a ﬁre. This can be particularly important in residential settings, where water damage can be costly and disruptive.

Water-mist systems are especially beneﬁcial in the protection of historic and heritage buildings and their contents. These systems are often retroﬁtted and their design using small-bore pipes makes them easier to install with minimal damage to the heritage fabric of the building structure. Additionally, they are usually less visually intrusive, preserving the aesthetic integrity of the protected structures.

The National Annex B to BS EN 14972-1 provides a comprehensive list of essential items that must be included in the DIOM documentation for water-mist systems. This guide ensures the eﬀective planning, implementation and ongoing operation

of these fire suppression systems. Below is an in-depth overview of each critical item to be included in the DIOM: general information – this section should provide a thorough description of the type of water-mist system being used. It includes details about the system’s purpose and scope, and the specific applications it is designed for limits of application – the DIOM must specify the limitations of the system, including maximum installation heights, ventilation requirements and potential obstructions that could affect system performance description of components – a detailed description of all components of the water-mist system should be provided, along with the standards to which they are designed. This ensures that each part meets the necessary specifications and quality standard testing of specific systems – this section should include information on the testing protocols used for the specific system/s, details of the fire test protocols and the results of such tests. This ensures that the system has been rigorously tested and is capable of performing effectively in fire scenarios approvals and certifications –documentation of all approvals and

“Innovations in nozzle design, water delivery systems and droplet size optimisation have enhanced the performance of water-mist systems”

certifications gained for the systems and their components must be included. This demonstrates compliance with relevant regulations and standards declaration of conformity – a declaration of conformity to applicable product safety directives should be included to affirm that the system adheres to necessary safety guidelines planning and design – this section should outline the planning and design process, including any specific qualifications or approvals needed by the designer. It ensures that the system is designed by competent professionals nozzle spacings and pressures –information on the maximum and minimum spacings for nozzles, as well as the required working and standby pressures, should be provided. This ensures optimal performance and coverage minimum design area – the DIOM must specify the AMAO (assumed maximum area of operation) and the minimum number of nozzles required in this area. This is crucial for ensuring adequate fire suppression coverage discharge duration – details on the discharge duration per application should be included to ensure that the system can effectively combat fires for the necessary amount of time water supply requirements – should include details of acceptable water quality. Reliable water supply is essential installation process – a detailed description of the installation process should be provided to ensure that the system is installed correctly and safely

High-pressure watermist ﬁre suppression systems need less water storage in comparison to sprinkler systems

testing and commissioning –information on the testing and commissioning process should be included to confirm that the system has been properly set up and is ready for use inspection and audit – the DIOM should outline the procedures for regular inspection and audit to ensure ongoing compliance and performance maintenance – details on the maintenance requirements and schedules should be included to ensure that the system is in good working order typical hazards – this section should describe the typical hazards applicable to the fire testing, including fire type and maximum fire loads. This helps in understanding the system’s effectiveness in various scenarios hazard description – a detailed description of the specific hazards the system is designed to protect against should be provided fire loads tested – information on the types and sizes of fire loads that have been tested should be included to demonstrate the system’s capabilities nozzle K-factor – the K-factor for each nozzle should be specified to ensure proper hydraulic calculations and system design interaction with other fire systems –details on how the water-mist system interacts with other fire systems – such as detection, alarm and smoke control systems – should be provided to ensure comprehensive fire protection

installation requirements – when installing water-mist systems in residential premises (particularly in Wales), it is essential to provide documentation that demonstrates compliance with the relevant requirements. This includes detailed information on the design area, the number of nozzles within the design area and the working tank capacity design considerations – a frequent observation during third-party audits of water-mist designs is that contractors may not correctly determine the design area or the number of nozzles within it. Additionally, the effect of hydraulic gradient is often overlooked. Proper consideration of these factors is crucial for the effective functioning of the system tank capacity – contractors should ensure that they use accurate calculations for the working tank capacity required for the system. Relying on gross tank capacities can lead to inefficiencies and potential system failures. It is essential to base these calculations on the specific needs of the water-mist system in question; and documentation and compliance –to ensure compliance with the regulations, detailed documentation must be provided. This should include the following information: the design area and the number of nozzles within it the hydraulic calculations used to determine the water supply

the working tank capacity required for the system; and any considerations related to the hydraulic gradient.

Challenges

One of the challenges faced by water-mist systems is the low level of interoperability between components from diﬀerent manufacturers. This lack of standardisation can lead to signiﬁcant issues throughout the lifespan of the system, complicating maintenance and upgrades.

It is also the case that the supporting standards and certification schemes for water-mist technology are still evolving. As the industry continues to develop these protocols, it is essential to stay informed about the latest advancements to ensure compliance and optimal performance. Water-mist systems offer numerous benefits, particularly for residential premises. These include reduced water storage requirements, minimised collateral damage and enhanced protection for historic and heritage buildings. Proper installation and accurate documentation are essential to ensure compliance with regulations and the effective functioning of the system. By adhering to these guidelines, homeowners and contractors can take full advantage of the advantages that water-mist systems provide.

For a more detailed guide on water-mist systems, BAFSA’s technical guide is available for free download at b.link/BAFSA_resources

List of current standards and certiﬁcations

BS EN 14972: Fixed ﬁreﬁghting systems. Water mist systems

14972-1 Design, installation and maintenance of water mist systems

14972-2 for shopping areas

14972-3 for oﬃces, school classrooms and hotels

14972-4 for nonstorage occupancies

14972-5 for car garages

14972-6 for false ﬂoors and false ceilings

14972-7 for low hazard occupancies

14972-8 and -9 machinery spaces

14972-10 atrium protection

14972-11 for cable tunnels

14972-12 commercial deep fat fryers

14972-13 for wet benches

14972-14 and -15 combustion turbines

14972-16 for industrial oil cookers

14972-17 for residential occupancies

BS EN 17450: Fixed

ﬁreﬁghting systems –

Water mist components

Part 1:2021 – Product characteristics and test methods for strainer and ﬁlter components prEN 17450-2 nozzles prEN 17450-3 check valves prEN 17450-4 control deluge valves and actuators prEN 17450-5 pressure switches

BS 8458: 2015 Fixed ﬁre protection systems –residential and domestic watermist systems – code of practice for design and installation

BS 8489: Fixed ﬁre protection systems –Industrial and commercial watermist systems

Part 1:2016 – Code of practice for design and installation

Part 4:2016 – Fire performance tests and requirements for watermist systems for local applications involving ﬂammable liquid ﬁres

Part 5:2016 – Fire performance tests and requirements for

watermist systems for the protection of imbustion turbines and machinery spaces with volumes up to and including 80m3

Part 6:2016 – Fire performance tests and requirements for watermist systems for the protection of industrial oil cookers

Part 7:2016 – Fire performance tests and requirements for watermist systems for the protection of low hazard occupancies

BS 8663: Fixed ﬁre protection systems – Components for watermist systems

Part 1:2019 – Speciﬁcation and test methods for watermist nozzles

For fire doors to work, attention must be paid to how they are fitted and maintained. The most common faults include missing or incorrectly installed fire or smoke seals, or gaps between the door and its frame, which fail to prevent hot gases and smoke from flooding an area. According to the British Woodworking Federation, one in five fire doors have unsuitable hinges, leaving doors loose in the frame. Non-fire-rated glass will crack and shatter when exposed to high temperatures, allowing the fire to spread quickly. Then there are voids created by ironmongery being replaced, which compromises the level of fire resistance the door can offer.

FD ﬁre ratings

An FD rating shows the amount of time a product can guard against the spread of smoke and ﬁre.

The most prevalent are FD30, which protects for up to 30 minutes and is typically seen in single residential properties, and FD60, which protects for 60 minutes and is frequently used in commercial settings and larger residential units. Some classiﬁcations, such as FD30S, are especially for smoke resistance.

Location, location, location

“The most common faults include missing or incorrectly installed ﬁre or smoke seals”

In residential buildings with rooms on more than two levels, including loft conversions, FD30-rated hardware must be installed between usable rooms that connect to stairwells. Fire doors must also be installed between dwellings and integrated garages. A ﬁre-related ﬁxture is required at every entry that goes indoors from an exterior facility, such as a garage.

For apartments, the doorways for each apartment and connecting corridors are required by law to have ﬁre-rated components to slow the spread of ﬁre and smoke from one unit to the next.

For multistorey commercial properties, any rooms that link to an evacuation route are required by law to have ﬁrerated door sets to prevent ﬁre and smoke from obstructing the escape.

Fire door components

Unsurprisingly the frames must also be firerated, while other components – such as casings, locking parts and linings – should all have the same fire rating. It is vital to fill and seal the space between the wall and the frame with a suitable fire-resistant substance such as fire-certified foam.

Snug ﬁt

Howarth Timber’s Emily Green has compiled a short guide on the importance of properly specified, fitted and maintained fire doors

Fire door locks should meet BS EN 12209 criteria and must be installed alongside intumescent paper. Intumescent strips are installed between doors and frames, while pads protect components such as hinges. When heated, they expand to form a tight seal to limit the spread of smoke.

A minimum of three ﬁre-rated hinges are necessary; all must resist temperatures of at least 800°C. The

weight it can support is also determined by its grade. Closers (that swing shut after use, shutting oﬀ regions in the case of a ﬁre) may also be needed.

According to Gov.uk, 45,000 ﬁres break out in homes and businesses each year – so ensuring that ﬁre doors are up to code is critical.

For more, visit howarth-timber.co.uk

Under control

The UK building control sector has experienced a tumultuous few years – so how are its professionals feeling? The CABE Building Control Survey sheds some light

The inaugural, anonymous Building Control Survey of members in England and Wales was conducted in late 2022. Its purpose was to inform the Association’s response to the Building Safety Regulator’s (BSR) consultation on the establishment of a code of conduct for registered building control inspectors – now known to all as the Building Inspector Competence Framework.

As 2024 was such a key year for the built environment in terms of legislative changes and regulation coming into force under the Building Safety Act 2022, CABE surveyed its building control members once more in January. By that time, the BSR had been delegated authority over building control inspector registration and the initial deadline for that registration in England and Wales was 6 April 2024.

A better understanding CABE’s most recent Building Control Survey closed mid-February 2025 and sought to gather the perspectives of those who had been through the new regime’s imposition and come out the other side – as still part of the profession or otherwise.

The 2025 survey, perhaps unsurprisingly, returned the highest number of responses to date. A summary will be shared with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and with the BSR. CABE would like to thank all those who participated in this and all previous questionnaires; the results allow for better understanding of what professionals are going through and the real impact of the Building Safety Act 2022’s introduction.

Summary of key ﬁndings and trends

2025 was the ﬁrst year that the Association asked respondents if they were CABE members and, if so, at which grade of membership. It was positive to see that 5% of respondents were not members of CABE, and their feedback has added to the breadth of these results.

41% of survey participants this year were registered building control inspectors at Class 3 or 4, with 50% at Class 2. Interestingly, almost threequarters of respondents currently registered at Class 1 plan to upgrade within the next 12 months.

Looking back at the results from the previous polls, it is positive to see that the number of people with fewer than three years’ experience as a building inspector has grown from 18% in 2022 to 22% in 2025, suggesting there has been an increase

84%

of class 1 registrants plan to apply for class 2, 3 or 4 within the next three years and 16% plan to retire

74% of 2025 respondents do not believe that clients understand the new role of the building inspector

85% of employers pay in full, or in part, for professional development

CAREER PLANS (IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS)

EFFECTIVENESS

OF BUILDING CONTROL IN TERMS OF DELIVERING COMPLIANT BUILDING WORK

“This year 73% of respondents felt they are being more supported by their employer to deliver building control functions than in previous years”

in entrants into the sector. But the 2025 results also show that the number of respondents with more than ten years’ experience has decreased by 3% in comparison to that ﬁrst 2022 survey.

The building control sector continues to face a tough time with regards to staﬃng levels; respondents planning to retire from the sector in the next three years has hovered around 20% since 2022. But there are glimmers of hope. In 2024, the number of people planning to continue working within building control dropped to a low of 41%, but this year that has risen to 53% – the same percentage as in 2022.

Alongside this, 84% of Class 1 registrants plan to apply for Class 2, 3 or 4 within the next three years. Hopefully this will result in a pipeline of experienced inspectors ready to ﬁll some of the positions vacated by retirees.

Support and skills

When it comes to support for employees, this year 73% of respondents felt they are being more supported by their employer to deliver building control functions than in previous years (69% in 2022 and 65% in 2024).

Feedback supports that respondents understand the importance of CPD and the need to upskill. The survey findings also demonstrate that employers are investing in their staff, with around 85% paying for professional developmental opportunities in full or in part; just shy of 70% are giving employees the time off they need to undertake professional development. Over the past three years, the survey has also found that 75% of employers pay either in full or in part for membership of professional bodies such as CABE. The consistency of these figures over the past three years is encouraging.

Struggling to keep up?

Looking at the industry more widely, the survey shows that there are still concerns among building inspectors that the industry in general, and its clients, do not understand how the role of the building inspector has changed since the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022. There are also strong indications that clients and consultants do not fully understand their new responsibilities to demonstrate compliance under the Act. Respondents believe that 71% of clients and 55% of consultants are poorly equipped to demonstrate compliance with their new responsibilities. Although these ﬁgures are still incredibly high, they are an improvement on 2024 –clients then were at 86% and consultants were at 68%. This could be read as an indication that awareness is slowly feeding through the industry, but there is still much work to do to ensure that responsibilities are understood and competence is demonstrated.

View the full 2025 ﬁndings, and past survey results, at cbuilde.com/BCS2025

Making assumptions

From our homes to our workplaces and everything in between, modern life is ﬁlled with goods and products – but, asks Denise Chevin, have ﬁre and resue service estimations of risk kept pace?

Many modern-day ﬁre rules have their roots in rules of thumb developed long before computer modelling or laboratorybased testing. An old anecdote in ﬁre safety circles is that evacuation times were based on how long it takes to sing the UK national anthem – two and a half minutes.

The reason why this rule of thumb was used by some early fire engineers and inspectors was that it was a quick, memorable benchmark for exit speed. It is said to have originated in the late 19th century after tragic theatre fires –such as the 1911 Edinburgh Empire Theatre fire, where 11 people were killed, and the Exeter Theatre Royal fire (1887), which killed 186 – occurred due to inadequate escape routes.

Thankfully, modern standards are more precise. Escape times these days, for example, reflect many different factors such as occupant type and density, travel distances, exit widths, flow rates, riskbased design (especially in performancebased fire engineering) and how quickly

INSIGHT

conditions in a ﬁre can become lifethreatening – so-called ‘ﬁre loads’.

The Grenfell Tower fire led to changes in many fire rules and regulations, including a ban on combustible cladding and a review to Part B, the approved code of practice for fire safety. The comprehensive technical review of Approved Document B is ongoing, but the UK government has already introduced several amendments, with implementation dates extending into 2029.

These amendments include clarifying requirements for the provision of ﬁre safety information to building owners, mandating sprinklers in new care homes and the requirement for a second staircase in new residential buildings over 18 metres in height.

An overlooked area

One area due for review according to some ﬁre experts is ﬁre loads in buildings, where concerns are emerging that they are being underestimated. They point out that modern buildings often contain more combustible materials and are more complex in the way they are designed and occupied, potentially leading to higher

How ﬁre

“Most people now have a lot more white goods than they used to – that increases the ﬁre loading in the building”

fire loads than previously anticipated. Echoing their concerns, a recent survey of 1,020 private residential balconies in England highlighted the need to consider fire loads in fire safety evaluations.

Dennis Davis, Competency Director at the Fire Sector Federation, shares these concerns. He says: “Most people now have a lot more white goods than they used to, and it’s not just washing machines and fridges but freezers, wine coolers and tumble dryers, for example. That increases the fire loading in the building. Added to this are household fabrics, which have moved away from being quite fire resistant to far less fireresistant synthetics. And other materials, such as acrylic baths, are contributing to increasing the overall loading.”

Ian Leigh, Technical Policy Oﬃcer at the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), makes the same point. “Modern buildings contain far more plastic-based furnishings and insulation compared to previous decades. These often burn faster and release more heat and toxic smoke.”

Electronics such as laptops, phones and chargers also add to the load, while

safety regimes diﬀer across the UK

We may be the United Kingdom, but when it comes to fire safety regimes the different countries within the UK have variations concerning legislation and enforcement. The core principle across these jurisdictions is a risk-based approach where a designated person/entity is responsible for fire safety. However, specific legislation, terminology, scope, enforcement structures and recent reforms show notable differences.

That said, the National Fire Chiefs Council’s Technical Policy Director Ian Leigh explains their intent is identical. Their unifying principle is focused on supporting those with duties and responsibilities to make their buildings safe for those in and around them, using the range of powers they have including enforcement and prosecution where necessary. Enforcement is generally led by ﬁre and rescue services across all jurisdictions, but Northern Ireland has a formalised joint role with District Councils for certain licensed premises. England has introduced the separate

Building Safety Regulator (BSR) for higher-risk buildings. Crown dependencies have their own regimes also. The legislation and enforcement processes are summarised as follows:

England & Wales

legislation – Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO), signiﬁcantly amended by the Fire Safety Act 2021 (FSA) (clarifying scope) and the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) (adding duties). But while the FSO applies in both, Building Regulations and the implementation of the BSA are devolved

matters, leading to potential divergence, particularly with Wales developing its own regime scope – non-domestic premises, workplaces and common parts of multioccupied residential buildings (explicitly includes structure, external walls and flat entrance doors as clarified by the FSA) enforcement – local fire and rescue authorities are generally the enforcing authority, although there are certain types of premises where others enforce the FSO. Prosecution can lead to unlimited fines and imprisonment recent changes –introduction of the BSR via the GB Health and Safety Executive (in England only) overseeing safety in higherrisk residential buildings (those 18m or above or seven or more storeys).

Scotland legislation – Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 (Part 3) and the

Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006. This is a distinct legislative framework from the FSO scope – similar nondomestic premises coverage. Unlike England and Wales, the main duties under Part 3 of the 2005 Act do not generally apply to common areas within purely domestic premises (eg blocks of flats), as these are considered ‘domestic’ enforcement – primarily the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Enforcement powers include inspections, requesting information, issuing notices and prosecution. Prosecutions under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 would generally be initiated in the Sheriff Court recent changes – while Scotland continues to review its fire safety regime, it does not have a direct equivalent to England’s BSR or the specific duties introduced under England’s

lithium batteries in e-bikes, e-scooters, power tools and electronics can pose a higher level of risk, he explains. “These batteries are problematic because they are prone to ‘thermal runaway’ if damaged, faulty, overcharged or overheated. This involves rapid self-heating, the release of ﬂammable/toxic gases or explosion risk.”

Getting it right

Fire loads are often used in the fire safety design of buildings as part of the assessment of the severity of potential fires. They are fed into designs for means of escape to determine fire resistance ratings for structural elements and to specify sprinkler systems or smoke extraction. Those taking a fire engineering approach, rather than following Approved Document B, will be guided by fire engineering standards such as BS 9999, BS 9991 and BS 7974. These are intended to provide a framework for the application of fire safety engineering principles to the design of buildings. BS 7974 was last updated in 2019. The impact of underestimating fire loads is significant on fire safety,

BSA 2022 framework. However, Scotland often aligns with best practice in spirit if not in structure.

Northern Ireland legislation – the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and The Fire Safety Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 scope – non-domestic premises, HMOs and maintenance of measures for the protection of firefighters in the common areas of domestic premises enforcement – Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) enforces on behalf of the NIFRS Board. While NIFRS is the main enforcer, district councils may play a supporting role in contexts such as HMO licensing, where fire safety is a factor recent changes – similar to Scotland, Northern Ireland does not have a direct equivalent to England’s BSA or the specific duties introduced via the BSA 2022 framework.

especially buildings designed to standards where those loads were much lower. If the intensity and duration of a fire are misjudged, occupants might not have enough time to escape and escape routes may become untenable faster than expected. There are also increased risks to firefighters who respond because the fire has developed more quickly. Additionally, insurance claims may be denied if it is shown the fire load was grossly underestimated.

For George Edwardes, Technical Director at the Fire Protection Association (FPA), one particular area of concern is bathroom materials and items. These used to be heavily porcelain and noncombustible, but are now manufactured from plastic. “There is also more stored in bathrooms – so a room with lowest ﬁre load previously is now one of the highest.”

Underestimating bathroom fire loads could have dangerous consequences because currently there are no recommendations to install sprinklers in them. Edwardes says: “On a tall building, you’ll often have a services shaft running up the building and bathrooms are often then stacked on top of each other, potentially creating a huge chimney of fire load up the building, which is not sprinkler protected. “It’s not about whether the fire will spread slightly faster and people have slightly less time to get out. Fire compartments are very important in terms of escape routes, so if you’ve got a fire compartment in a corridor and that compartment fails, you’re now blocking an escape route for everybody behind. That can create an issue of fire spread between the floors and suddenly there will be hazards in places that you weren’t expecting them.”

This scenario could easily create a knock-on effect for cladding systems as well. “If that happened it may cause a bigger fire than before, with longer flames that can bypass cavity barriers that are designed to protect cladding systems against fire. The really worrying thing is that systems that perform well in the fire testing process can perform totally differently in the real world because the fire load in each compartment has changed,” he says.

Safety nets built in

The need to carry out regular risk assessments to comply with the Fire Safety Order does offer a degree of protection against overloading fires, as long as they are strictly enforced. This is because fire risk assessments must

reﬂect the actual contents of a building, not just what it was designed for.

“For example,” says Leigh, “in a residential block, if tenants are storing e-bikes, lithium-ion batteries or large quantities of furniture or paper, these must be considered part of the fire load. Those undertaking the fire risk assessment will be expected to inspect and document these materials and assess their impact on fire growth, smoke production and evacuation.”

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order requires that fire risk assessments be reviewed and revised regularly and also when there is reason to believe the previous assessment is no longer valid. Where high fire loads or risky items are present, Responsible Persons must implement appropriate controls. These may include banning charging of e-bikes in escape routes; installing heat/smoke detection near battery storage; and increasing fire resistance or compartmentation.

In essence, fire risk assessments are not to be one-off exercises – they must evolve with the building and how it is used. They must also ensure that actual fire load conditions (including modern threats such as lithium-ion batteries) are understood and appropriately managed.

“One of the things we are constantly highlighting is the need to take account of building use changes, because this does impact on the structure. The load often increases with change of use, which then increases the severity of the ﬁre and the speed of the ﬁre spread,” says Davis. “But it often takes time for regulations to actually catch up with the ways that people are now living.“

Constant vigilance

One area of concern he highlights, which is more to do with compartmentation than ﬁre loads, is how our buildings are constructed using modern methods of materials, where there can be voids compromising compartmentation of a ﬁre.

Experts say that ﬁre safety is one of constant vigilance. Leigh says: “We sometimes introduce new materials or products into our environment, but we don’t realise that this also introduces new or higher levels of risk until we start using them. Lithium-ion batteries in the home is a prime example. We’re all carrying one in our pocket.

“The growth in personal light electric vehicles [EVs] introduces more into the environment we live and work in. So there’s no doubt that ﬁre loading is changing, and we’re working to

“We’re seriously lacking on lithium-ion battery research and we need to have proper information on how much they’ve changed”

understand how to make sure we can live with these products as safely as possible and mitigate the risks they introduce.”

Edwardes adds a counter-balancing view by pointing out that designers often design in a way that builds in a margin of error. “When they carry out ﬁre calculations, they do design in a safety factor, which is recommended in the standards to help account for a change in hazard.”

Keeping insurance premiums down is likely to be another consideration in building safety, he suggests. He believes insurers will be looking to take into consideration how designers and occupiers are tempering ﬁre risks when they set insurance premiums.

The RISCAuthority, which produces guidance and carries out research for insurers, is currently reviewing all of its guidance on lithium-ion batteries with a view to publishing revised guidance. However, the RISCAuthority acknowledges that designers do not necessarily take heed of its guidance. That aside, it also has a major initiative underway at present that urges school designers to consider insurer requirements.

It is also sending out guidance aimed at inﬂuencing architects earlier in their careers. Two updated publications

produced with the FPA and RISCAuthority are RC59: Recommendations for Fire Safety When Charging EVs and BDM01 – A to Z of Essential Principles for the Protection of Buildings

Edwardes says that where there are likely to be e-bikes or other objects with lithium-ion batteries in a building, these may be treated as special hazards. That is to say, it should be accepted that traditional ﬁre compartmentation is not designed to handle these objects and that they need to be stored somewhere else, ideally not near escape routes.

“But again, we’re seriously lacking on lithium-ion battery research and we need to have proper information on how much they’ve changed and how signiﬁcant that could be,” he says.

Whose responsibility?

That guidance should fall to government – it sets the Building Regulations, produced the Approved Documents and would be expected to be the sponsoring body behind any review to the relevant British Standards.

NFCC’s Leigh also says that there is a need for more research so that there is evidence to change regulation and guidance around ﬁre safety when it comes to ﬁre loading.

One area he points to where the impacts of change are apparent and regulations appear to have lagged behind is in the design of car parks, particularly where they are integrated into other buildings such as offices. The standards are based on older vehicles, which are very different to the ones of today. A fire that broke out at Luton Airport in 2023 destroyed 1,300 cars and caused the partial collapse of the building. Years earlier more than 1,000 vehicles were destroyed in a huge car park fire on King’s Dock in Liverpool. Temperatures in the multistorey car park reached 1,000°C during the inferno on New Year’s Eve 2017.

“When you integrate those car parks underneath buildings or in very close proximity to residential or commercial buildings, it begs the question of whether we know enough about the behaviour of those vehicles. Do the current standards still perform as intended in light of the changes we see in vehicles?”

Fire experts are united in saying that new hazards will always be emerging. The risk they represent may not be understood until those risks materialise. It is a constant challenge to all industry to understand risks and take measures to deal with them –starting at design and build, and following through to regulation once occupied.

Smoke damage

Fire safety concerns around product speciﬁcation for building materials as well as internal furnishings are focused on ﬂammability, but what about smoke toxicity? asks Nick Warburton

When the independent inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster headed by Sir Martin Moore-Bick published its Phase 2 report in September 2024, its 58 recommendations included a major overhaul of the construction products system.

In its response in February, the UK government accepted all of the report’s ﬁndings and, on the same day, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published the supporting Construction Products Reform Green Paper 2025. It set out proposals for a systemwide reform of the construction products sector, the regulatory regime that governs it and the institutions that must fulﬁl their responsibilities

in assuring products that can be safely used. The consultation on its proposals ended in May.

The MHCLG’s green paper serves as the response to the Morrell/Day report in 2023, Testing for a Safer Future: An Independent Review of Product Testing and Certification. Paul Morrell OBE and Anneliese Day KC’s independent review of the construction products testing regime was not limited to construction products intended for use in highrise (now higher-risk) residential buildings, and consequently its findings are also relevant to public buildings such as offices, hospitals and schools. However, its scope did not extend to testing products that are not intended for use in construction.

This is a broader, equally important issue to consider because the specification of internal furnishings – both in residential and public buildings, for example – contributes to one of the most significant fire hazards: the toxicity of smoke generated when materials ignite and burn.

What’s inside?

The Research into Construction Product Standards and Testing ﬁnal report, prepared by Innovate at PRP Ltd, Adroit Economics Consortium and the Construction Products Association on behalf of MHCLG, makes a recommendation that smoke and toxicity needs to be better considered for insulation materials. It called for “a national standard for testing, classifying and labelling building products for their propensity to produce toxic smoke”.

Considering the risk that toxic smoke poses, consideration should also be given to the specification of materials in internal furnishings, such as the glue in composites used in kitchen cupboards and flatpack wardrobes, as well as flame-retardant coatings for upholstery and synthetic fabrics. There are also the personal items that residents and/or employees bring into the building, including electrical devices such as smartphones and tablets.

The risks posed by the latter were highlighted in a joint Chinese study by the Institute of NBC Defence and Tsinghua University and published in the journal Nano Energy back in 2016. In the study, researchers heated 18,650 lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in smartphones and tablets, to the point of combustion, prompting most to explode and all to emit toxic gases.

Signiﬁcantly, they found that a fully charged battery will release more toxic gases than a battery with 50% charge. In addition, “the chemicals contained in the batteries and

their capacity to release charge also affected the concentrations and types of toxic gases released”. Internal furnishings present an even greater risk. In his ‘Furniture and Fire’ article, George Edwardes, Technical Director at the Fire Protection Association (FPA), points out that toxic smoke is the number one cause of death during a fire, with the increased use of plastic materials and flame retardants contributing to the production of significantly more toxic smoke. He explains that some of the 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire died while they were still on the phone, adding that “this isn’t something that happens from exposure to cleaner, less toxic fire smoke”.

Recipe for disaster

The smoke potency, Edwardes adds, is a combination of the fire conditions and the chemical composition of the materials being burnt. Whereas a wellventilated fire will mostly react oxygen with carbon to produce carbon dioxide, the worse the ventilation conditions, the more inefficient the combustion. This leads to less carbon dioxide being produced and instead the production of more toxicants, especially carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide. Poor ventilation is influenced by several factors, including the size of any openings such as windows. This fact underlines the criticality of installing effective smoke ventilation options, such as automatic opening vents, to assist the safe

Smoke ventilation systems

The purpose of a smoke ventilation system is to keep escape routes clear in a burning building by creating a smoke-free layer for people to evacuate safely and to aid the responding ﬁre and rescue service. This is achieved through using a combination of products that include diﬀerent types of automatic opening vents (AOVs), exhaust fans and smoke sensors.

“All systems should comply with BS EN 12101-2 – part of a series of standards that cover smoke control systems – which specifies the requirements for natural smoke and heat ventilators, the materials used in their construction, performance testing and certification procedures,” says Derbybased fire protection consultant OHEAP.

There are diﬀerent types of AOV systems, which are controlled by a central control panel that receives signals from a number of sensors, including smoke detectors, heat detectors and manual call points. Typically, they incorporate venting, windows, doors and an actuator.

Natural smoke ventilation is activated by smoke detectors that draw in fresh air to remove the smoke through either opening windows or vents, employing automatic opening vents or using a

vertical smoke shaft installed in buildings that does not have an external wall.

Mechanical smoke ventilation uses fans and other powered components to direct smoke movement and release it through vents, grills and dampers. Typically, they are employed in buildings with low ceilings where natural ventilation is not feasible.

Smoke & heat exhaust ventilation (SHEV) systems, which are connected to a central control panel, use actuators or magnetic locks to open AOVs, vents or doors when smoke is detected. OHEAP advises that, because all vents should be opened at the right time to enable quick evacuation, choosing an automatic SHEV system is highly recommended.

Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures UK (CROSS UK) published a safety alert to highlight an issue that individuals responsible for the management of ﬁre safety in buildings should be made aware of – construction works on existing buildings had prevented the operation of AOVs.

Read the CROSS UK report

b.link /CROSSUK_smokevents

Protection consultant OHEAP

b.link/OHEAP_AOV

evacuation of residents and/or employees in the event of a ﬁre (see Smoke ventilation systems).

As Edwardes points out, the widespread use of synthetic plastics has resulted in an increase in both the growth rate and severity of ﬁres. Plastics are present in building products that range from PVC window frames, which can produce gases such as hydrogen chloride when they catch alight, to ﬂame retardants, which often produce highly toxic reactions when they burn and emit gases.

A House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee in 2019 and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) initiative Six Clean Air Strategies Priorities Fund programme 7 in 2022 both raised concerns that the current Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 incentivise the use of ﬂame retardants. This range of organic and inorganic chemicals – found in a diverse range of products such as furniture, electronics and building insulation – is designed to prevent or extend the time it takes for these items to catch ﬁre.

The UKRI initiative scientists noted the UK has “some of the highest usage of [chemical] ﬂame retardants”

“Considering the risk that toxic smoke poses, consideration should also be given to the speciﬁcation of materials in internal furnishings”

(CFRs) globally. This is partly because they are commonly added to upholstered furniture so that the products can pass the flammability (open flame ignition and smouldering) tests introduced by the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. However, research published in Environment International indicates that during a fire, some flame retardants exacerbate the release of toxic gases and the smoke formed. There is also evidence that “a significant proportion of fire deaths are caused by inhalation of toxic fumes, including cyanide gas and carbon monoxide”.

Not only is there “signiﬁcant uncertainty about whether and to what extent ﬂame retardants

Chemical ﬂame retardants

Published in April, the Scottish environmental charity Fidra’s Case Study Report: Plugging the Chemical Transparency Gap for a Safer Circular Economy – Furniture Supply Chains explores the risks associated with CFRs in detail – notably their longterm impact on human and environmental health.

The report states how a number of legacy CFRs previously used widely in furniture, such as decabromodiphenyl ether, have now been classiﬁed as persistent organic pollutants and banned under the Stockholm Convention. It goes on to say that harmful CFRs currently used in furniture, including aromatic brominated FRs, melamine and tetrabromobisphenol A, have recently been identiﬁed as on or added to the EU substances of very high concern candidate list.

Fidra’s report does detail four case studies of diverse stakeholders across the furniture supply chain that are taking action to develop safer, more sustainable alternatives. These include a mattress producer

“It is a terrible irony that in trying to reduce ﬂammability of furniture and furnishings, products are being made more dangerous”

that has reduced its use of CFRs through the way it designs its product and a non-proﬁt organisation that has explored how third-party certiﬁcation, together with regulation, can increase chemical transparency through promoting sustainable practices and raising industry standards. While laudable, four stakeholders are unlikely to change the industry.

In its ‘Consensus Statement’, the UKRI initiative scientists outline their policy recommendations. This includes minimising the use of CFRs by incentivising industry to “develop benign-by-design furniture, building materials and other goods … made from materials that are inherently less flammable and less likely to produce toxic smoke than conventional, highly flammable foams and other products that require significant addition of flame retardants to comply with fire safety standards”.

These concerns, together with those presented by the Environmental Audit Committee, prompted the then Conservative UK government to propose changes to the ﬁre safety standards for furniture and furnishings. It published its Smarter Regulation: The New Approach to the Fire Safety of Domestic Upholstered Furniture consultation, which ran from August to October 2023.

In January this year, the Labour administration published its own policy paper, The Fire Safety of Domestic Upholstered Furniture. This sets out how the UK government plans to reform the regulation of these products over the next 12 months, including its own pledge to reduce the use of CFRs. It says it is committed to “implementing new regulations with robust essential safety requirements and to the principles of ﬁnal item and representative sample testing”.

As part of a package of measures to support a reduction in CFR use and to foster innovation in the production of ﬁre safe furniture, the UK government says that it will also consider the merits of the previous administration’s proposal to introduce a ‘ﬂame-retardant technology hierarchy’.

However, Dr Joanna Clay, Senior Project Manager at Fidra, warned on the FPA’s Assembly Point podcast on ﬁre smoke toxicity that the hierarchy would not go far enough in encouraging innovation in alternatives and does not contain any quantiﬁable reduction targets for CFRs.

Regulations and standards

Meanwhile, the Oﬃce for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) and the British Standards Institution are in the process of speeding up the completion of new standards for product compliance with the intention of having them available for the start of any transitional period. According to the policy paper, the government will set out a clear timeline for the new standards’ delivery, plus detailed plans for a new approach in late 2025.

In addition to its policy paper, the UK government also delivered its response to the Smarter Regulation: The New Approach to the Fire Safety of Domestic Upholstered Furniture consultation. The intention here is to “build on scope proposals set out in the 2023 consultation”, including plans to produce an

“overarching deﬁnition of upholstered products”, supplemented by a list of excluded products.

The UK government has also said it plans, where possible, to avoid any overlap with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO), which regulates upholstered furniture fire safety in non-domestic settings. As the main legislation governing fire safety in buildings in England and Wales, the FSO places specific legal duties on the Responsible Person, although the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 have since introduced additional responsibilities to this list.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 also imposes duties on critical building safety roles, such as Principal Contractors and Designers, which includes taking action to eliminate, reduce and control ignition sources. These requirements underline further the importance of specifying products – both construction materials and internal furnishings – that are not only less ﬂammable but produce less toxic smoke when they do ignite and burn.

So, what does this all mean for those looking to choose non-toxic alternatives to CFRs that are also less ﬂammable – and what should they look for in product testing data? As Professor Richard Hull, Professor of Chemistry and Fire Science at the University of Lancashire, explains in the FPA podcast, unfortunately there is currently no measure of ﬁre toxicity from any product outside the mass transport industry. “There’s no requirement to limit smoke toxicity of those products,” he says. “I could make a product that was 100 times more toxic when it burns than anything you could buy, and the government has no power to stop me selling it.”

It is a terrible irony that in trying to reduce flammability of furniture and furnishings, products are being made more dangerous when they do burn. Also, the building materials themselves, such as PVC – chosen for their longevity, ease of use and reduced risk of flammability – could actually pose a greater risk in a fire from toxicity.

In April 2025, the OPSS issued a statement regarding the planned 2025 update to the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 following a consultation period. Edwardes notes: “The proposed update has however, watered down proposals to get rid of the labelling system, which was key to letting consumers vote with their wallets over which products to go for. There is also still no hierarchy of toxic chemicals talked about in regards to furniture regulations. Such a tool would help furniture manufacturers consider the chemicals used in their products. Without these two aspects, this means the furniture space – the ﬁrst one to really tackle smoke toxicity – is falling short, and in turn makes it diﬃcult for other industries.

“The FPA would like to see other sectors that make use of fire retardants, such as the insulation and cladding industries, consider the measures being looked at by the furniture industry. These fire retardants are potentially harmful even without a fire, and when a fire does occur they can have devastating consequences in impacting a safe evacuation.”

Association update 2025 presidential visit to Asia Paciﬁc Region

CABE President Richard Flynn, CEO Richard Harral and Membership Director Sharon Spice visited the Asia Paciﬁc Region in April, with various engagements in Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore.

The team were delighted to be in Hong Kong for the CABE Centenary celebrations, attending a special 100th anniversary cocktail reception at the New World Millennium Hotel.

They were joined by guest of honour HO Chun-hung, JP, Director of Buildings at HKSAR, more than 100 CABE members, representatives from all CABE Chapters across the Asia Paciﬁc Region, heads of allied institutes and honorary and technical advisers from Hong Kong. 1 2

Engaging academic partners

The presidential team met the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong 3 and the City University of Macau 4 to discuss how CABE can support the industry’s next generation. Aligned to this, current academic partners also joined the team at a luncheon to exchange updates and discuss ways to progress. 5

Taking part in local CPD events

The presidential team also attended a CPD seminar – ‘Unlock the Secrets of Time Management’ – delivered by Cr Amanda Wong. It focused on the essential context and key features of the NEC4 form of contract to participants. The seminar was insightful, and all

attendees enjoyed the exchange of views throughout the session. 6

Accompanied by Danny Chan Ying Ho, Macau Chapter Chair, and other Macau members, the team visited M8, a new cultural and commercial landmark in Macau. This trip allowed the whole group to appreciate the building’s fusion of both traditional and modern elements. 7

Harral presented a CPD seminar to Singapore members on ‘Lessons Learnt from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’ – the ﬁrst-ever CPD seminar delivered by CABE in the country. 8

Working closely with allied institutes

The Hong Kong Institute of Construction Managers’ President Cr Alfred Tang

and his cabinet received the CABE HQ representatives to discuss the challenges and opportunities presenting themselves in this everchanging industry. 9

Sarah McGrath, Ambassador of Ireland to Singapore, gave a warm welcome to the presidential team towards the end of their time in the area to share the latest regarding the business environment in the Asia Paciﬁc region. 10

It was a hugely successful tour in this, the CABE Centenary year, and a wonderful way to connect and celebrate.

The Hong Kong Oﬃce would like to thank all members and collaborators across the region for their participation.

CABE HQ extends thanks to our Hong Kong Oﬃce colleagues, all APAC Chapter representatives and members for their ongoing support

MEMBER NEWS

CABE is delighted to welcome the following into membership:

CHARTERED BUILDING ENGINEERS

S Butcher – Calne

CK Cheng – Hong Kong

M Ellis – Leighton Buzzard

D Eva – Ingatestone

L Fegan – Dublin

YF Lee – Hong Kong

J Low – Singapore

J Nelson – Wigan

KH Pang – Hong Kong

CHARTERED MEMBERS

MH Abdul Majeed – Saudi Arabia

A McColl – Billericay

P Morris – Leicestershire

A Stott – Formby

ASSOCIATES

S Alexander – Gillingham

K Arnold – Doncaster

C Brenchley – Birchington

J Cockerill – Darlington

D Cook – Bognor Regis

D Daubney – Bolton

W Fairhurst – Standish

N Galton – Christchurch

A Heath – Heanor

G Inglis – Donington

T Jarvis – Lincoln

M Littlewood – Sheﬃeld

T Livaneli – Northwood

G McClean – Manchester

P Nachev – London

J Quayle – Bromborough

J Roughton – Uttoxeter

R Wiley – Exeter

GRADUATE

I Can – Beverley

Members who have achieved a higher grade:

CHARTERED FELLOW

J Hunter – Linlithgow

CHARTERED BUILDING ENGINEER

K Njie – Essex

CHARTERED MEMBERS

B Donovan – Dublin

A Griﬃn – York

C Hill – Guilford

H Patching – Aberfoyle

D Rabbetts – Hastings

J Senior – Huddersﬁeld

C Turner – Sheﬃeld

J Wright – London

ASSOCIATES

C Griﬃths – Stotfold

C Henn – Bognor Regis

L Pugh – Bridgend

O Rose – Coventry

TECHNICIANS

N Bidaudville-Begley – Dunstable

A Dawson – Rochdale

B Dilworth – Preston

G Chadwick – Stoke-on-Trent

B Francis – Ely

F Gwyer – Hove

To ﬁnd out if you are eligible for a higher grade, send a CV to membership@ cbuilde.com for review.

We welcome back into membership:

CHARTERED FELLOWS

R Evans – Sevenoaks

T Lehrmann – London

L Supramaniam – Cardiﬀ

CHARTERED BUILDING ENGINEERS

M Au – Macau

A Cowell – Margate

A Hussain – Luton

S McCarron – Londonderry

M Moiz – Keston

A Raza – Great Missenden

D Vincent – Great Kingshill

W Yeung – Hong Kong

CHARTERED MEMBER

K Ali – Newcastle-under-Lyme

ASSOCIATES

D Gibbs – Bedford

V Rose – London

GRADUATE

T Modupe – Purley

CABE is pleased to welcome the following new partner: Wyvern Surveyors

The following members have achieved additional registrations:

CHARTERED ENGINEERS

KYK Pang – Hong Kong

V Lee – Hong Kong

SP Yap – Malaysia

D McAvoy – Motherwell

CS Kong – Malaysia

INCORPORATED ENGINEER

J Wright – London

REGISTERED ENVIRONMENTAL

PR ACTITIONER

S Douglas – Shetland Islands

We regret to announce the death of the following member:

Mr Kevin Christopher Sheridan

FCABE C.Build E Retd / b. 1947 ad. 2013 / Region: Ireland

For membership information, contact HQ on +44 (0)1604 404121 or e-mail membership@cbuilde.com

The above membership information is taken from 2 April to 1 May 2025.

Building Engineer - June 2025