Fire, Security and Safety

Fire safety in residential construction is no longer a single line item in a specification—it sits alongside acoustic performance, thermal efficiency and buildability as part of a wider design conversation. As housing projects become more complex and regulations more demanding, specifiers are increasingly looking for materials that do more than satisfy a single requirement.

For housing associations, ensuring residents live in safe, well-maintained homes is a responsibility that sits at the heart of everything you do.

Managing ageing housing stock, meeting regulatory requirements and delivering improvement programmes all require careful planning, specialist knowledge and trusted partners who understand the challenges of working within occupied properties.

John Street, Newham, a high‑rise residential development comprising Blocks A and C, has been equipped with a comprehensive life safety solution from Advanced, incorporating SmokeGo smoke control and EvacGo evacuation alert systems to support a stay‑put fire strategy and enhance resident safety.

If you are responsible for building safety, you are expected to know where your risks sit, understand your responsibilities and be able to evidence control. Some risks are obvious. Others sit just outside immediate view: in the detail, in how systems interact and in where responsibilities overlap.
 

Construction professionals from leading architects’ practices to fire engineers and major contractors are signing up in increasing numbers to receive a significant new CPD seminar from Stephen Neville, the Specification Sales Manager for FIREFLY® keen to understand the technicalities of compartmentation and other key fire safety considerations. Leveraging a comprehensive portfolio of barrier products and fire hatches employed across commercial, industrial, healthcare, and other building sectors, FIREFLY® offers unmatched expertise to deliver enhanced RIBA-accredited CPD seminar on these crucial topics.

Ferrier Point, a 23 storey residential tower block in Newham, East London, became the focus of national attention during the cladding crisis after investigations revealed that its exterior was fitted with aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, the same hazardous type implicated in the rapid fire spread at Grenfell Tower. In response, Newham Council undertook a full recladding programme, and by 2019 the building had been completely stripped of its ACM façade and upgraded with VitraDual® - an A1, noncombustible precoated aluminium rainscreen cladding system from Valcan. 

Kidde Safety Europe has introduced a new Fire and CO Alarm Control Switch that enables remote testing and silencing of interconnected Kidde FIREX hardwired alarms, providing a practical solution for properties where alarms are installed in locations that are difficult to access or require regular inspection.