Third Buildeng Conference for CABE Southern Region

On 14 September, the Southern Region held their third Buildeng Conference in Winchester.

We were honoured that our President Joseph Birt was able to join us in both opening the conference and offering a technical presentation on "Lessons Learnt" in Fire Safety.

Following the President's opening address and a talk from Dr Gavin Dunn, CABE Chief Executive on "Competency Management", delegates had an informative presentation from Niall Rowan, Technical and Regulatory Affairs officer at the Association of Structural Fire Protection (ASFP), who spoke on "Competence in Passive Fire Protection". 

Delegates were shown a series of photos which explained the importance of ensuring that the person who installed fire stopping were themselves certified to undertake the installation.

After a short refreshment break, President Joseph Birt offered his technical presentation, where he used the tragic fire at Rosepark care home in Scotland, where 14 residents died as a result of fire spread. The presentation followed investigation after the fire and how this event could have been avoided if appropriate and diligent measures were taken by those responsible for the building's operation and risk safety survey.

Just before lunch, David Keeble, Head of UK Sales at Cooper Fire, spoke on Fire Curtain Operations and their applications. During the Q&A session, it was highlighted that even though BS 8524 and BS 1634 both undertake fire test on fire shutters, only BS 5824 undertake a robust test on fire curtains. Delegates were informed that curtains to BS 5824 should only be considered for projects.