Blog: Hot topics dominate Fire 2021

This year's Fire 2021 conference saw over 400 delegates in attendance both in person as well as online. Topics ranged from culture and change leadership to ethics, diversity and inclusion in the fire sector, but inevitably dominating the programme were presentations on modern building construction and the reform of building regulations.

A review of the morning sessions

The conference was opened by broadcaster Aasmah Mir who chaired the event throughout the day. Steve Hamm, IFE Chief Executive, followed with a welcome to delegates and also paid respects to Sir David Amess and Paul Fuller, both of whom we lost this year, and reflected on their contributions to our industry.

Tina Mistry, Relationships Manager at AICO, then took to the stage to deliver the headline sponsor address. Tina gave a very moving speech and opened up to delegates about her personal experience of fire; something which delegates and speakers alike related to and spoke about throughout the day.

Plenary Speaker Lord Stephen Greenhalgh, Minister of State for Building Safety and Fire, followed and told the conference that the government remains committed to implementing in full the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry in the Phase One report "in the most practical and proportionate way”. They include mandatory checks on fire doors, introduction of wayfinding signage and evacuation plans, all vital fire safety measures for high rise buildings.

Lord Greenhalgh noted that the IFE’s expertise and advice had resulted in the introduction of a building prioritisation tool that will enable responsible persons to identify how soon they should update their fire risk assessment.

He concluded that the Fire Safety Act of 2021 and the Building Safety Bill provided the legislative heft needed to bring about the regulatory system overhaul so badly needed after the tragedy of Grenfell. “There's much that we've achieved and there's much more that we need to do. But, above all, we need your help to do it," he told the conference.

The morning’s plenary sessions also included Tim Galloway, Deputy Director of the Health and Safety Executive, who commented on the step change required across “the whole process of designing, constructing, maintaining and managing the safety of and living in higher risk buildings”. Hayley Robinson, Group Chief Underwriting Officer at Zurich Insurance spoke about collaboration and the power of sharing information in the insurance industry and with customers.

She noted that new legislation wasn’t the only area impacting on building safety. With climate change impacts and the adoption of new materials, new practices and new energy sources, the fire risk landscape for buildings was becoming increasingly complex.

Next up was Amanda Long, Chief Executive of Building a Safer Future Charter, who emphasised the need for cultural and leadership change to reinforce the legislative and innovation changes happening in the building sector.

Concluding the plenary sessions was Jonathan O’Neill OBE, the Fire Protection Association’s (FPA) Managing Director, who finished with a call to action encouraging us all to work together.

Panel and workshop discussions

The conference sessions then moved into a selection of panels and workshops. Starting off this part of the day was a Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) debate which discussed MMC and the implications for fire risks and insurers.

The first of our workshops began with delegates choosing from a Cross-UK session discussing the importance of collaborating to share lessons, a NFCC Building Risk Review Progress and Future Plans workshop and a session hosted by the Fire Sector Federation titled Transforming Culture and Competency to Improve Fire Safety.

Following lunch, the workshops continued with options including Simultaneous Evacuation Guidance, the Future of Certifications – how can we trust the tests? and an IFE technical update workshop. This session was opened by Dr Peter Wilkinson, IFE Technical Director, who firstly praised the dedicated volunteers at the IFE and their contribution to the achievements of the organisation, before delivering an overview of recent work. This included highlighting the IFE’s role in the creation of a fire safety expert panel in response to the Dame Judith Hackitt review, contributions made to the BBC Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry podcast as well as the introduction of a new Special Interest Group (SIG) and plans for further SIGs.

"We also led on the work to develop contextualised registration for professional engineers who will be working on in-scope buildings. That's a challenging task that cuts across different professional engineering institutions because it involves all the different professions in the built environment,” he told attendees.

Peter then handed over to representatives from the Fixed Firefighting Systems, Heritage Buildings, Industrial Fire and Risk and Fire Investigation SIGs to give delegates an overview of their work. Details about their updates can be read in the November International Fire Professional journal and members will be able to view recordings in the CPD Hub soon.

The final workshops included a session about procurement looking at integrity and sustainability, an ethics workshop and a session titled An International Tall Building Fire case study.

Closing the day

Delegates gathered for the final panel session of the day which considered the subject of gender imbalance; investigating female diversity and inclusion in the fire sector and related industries and what industry is doing and what else could be done to further drive equality.

Lynsey Seal, Principal Fire Engineer, London Fire Brigade explained: “We have a lot of problems in the industry and without that diverse background and diversity of thought you get from people with different experiences your problem-solving ability is only made up from your experiences and background."

Mark Hardingham, Chair of the NFCC, then delivered the final session of the day focusing on the reform of the fire and rescue service. Before beginning Mark added that equality and diversity is a key plank of the reform of the fire and rescue service commenting: "Diversity brings collective intelligence, different experiences and perspectives and the more time we spend thinking about that is directly proportional to the quality of the decision at the end.”

The content of his presentation pointed to the launch three years ago of 'Fit for the Future', which saw three organisations, National Employers (England) (NE (England), the Local Government Association (LGA) and NFCC working together to determine what the future is for the fire and rescue service in England, and potentially across the UK for up to the next 15 years and which now has a strong evidence base, drawing from reports, academic research, experience of CFOs and senior leadership teams in the fire services.

Members can read the Fire 2021 conference report in the November International Fire Professional journal and our CPD Hub will shortly be hosting content from the day to ensure members can access this information and shared knowledge.