Southern Region : Guildford buildeng 27.09.23

On the September 27, the Southern Region held their 3rd Technical conference at G-Live in Guildford. The event was attended by just over 50 delegates with co-sponsorship coming from Unilin Insulation formerly known as Xtratherm and SAVA (Surveyors and Valuers Accreditation Ltd) a consultancy and training organisation that is helping Government to produce the mandated Home Condition Report as part of the Home Information Pack, together with Cooper Fire Ltd who had an exhibition stand.
Following the welcome speech to delegates from Michael Wadood Regional Chairman, Richard Smith, CABE President also gave a welcome to members and pointed out that the Southern Region was the most active region within the Association and called for a round of applause for the members of the Regional Committee. 
The conference was a half day event commencing at 3pm with a presentation from Bart Smith, Associate at Kaner Olette Architects on the practice’s involvement in the redesign and rebuild of Bere Mill in Hampshire which was a Grade ll listed watermill devastated by fire in 2018. The presentation covered the great learning acquired by working on the project which transformed the ruined section of the building into a three-storey open gallery space which is opened for public use, The exterior of Bere Mill was rebuilt precisely as it was before the fire, with original brick walls timber cladding and antique roof tiles. The reconstruction had respected traditional building techniques, through construction of an oak timber frame to match the original traditional handcut joinery, and lathe and plaster wall covering, with the use of lime render throughout.
Following on from Bart, Hilary Grayson, Director of Surveying Services at SAVA gave a brief introduction to the new Social Housing Regulation Act 2023, which focuses attention to how social housing is managed. It includes increased regulation of social landlords and new rules for protecting tenants from serious hazards in their homes. As a co-sponsor of the conference SAVA wanted to raise awareness of the various training and qualification courses they offer, which would support the technical competence of those who work within social housing or are thinking of working in that sector.
After a refreshment break, we received the second co-sponsor presentation from John Woodcock from Unilin, who offered a talk around product awareness. We were informed about the growth of Unilin Insulation, the range of products they have for all aspects of construction and a bit about how they are working towards embodied carbon in construction projects. Following that presentation, Shami Smith-Sandhu, Director as Semper Fire Engineering spoke, he co-wrote a technical paper on “contemporary fire safety design of open -sided multi storey car parks”. He addressed the current UK legislative framework, recent major car park fires, technological changes such as electric vehicles and recommendations for the design of open-sided multi-storey car parks.
Taking into account the current available data and experience, the following recommendation should be part of a fire safety strategy when designing a bespoke open-sided multi-storey car park.
1. Fire detection and alarm systems – onset occupants’ evacuation and fire service intervention.
2. Structures and material – Use non-combustible material.
3. EV infrastructure – Protect cable route and charging units from damage.
4. Stair cores – to be structurally separate from the car park structure and floorplate.
5. Ongoing management – ensure facades and not covered etc.

The last presentation for the conference was offered by Richard Smith President of CABE, who as Head of Standards Innovation and Research at NHBC, gave an insight into some of the most recent NHBC technical standards covering foundation NF93, Hazardous ground gas NF94 and NHBC’s support toward the Future Homes Hub. Richard also touched on how the Building Safety Act 2022, affect the way NHBC surveyors review their competency in relation to the Building Inspector Competency Framework and the various routes which they are undertaking to meet the framework requirements.
The event concluded at 7pm and those who attended the conference stated that it was a worthwhile event, for some they were looking forward to the 4th and last technical conference for the year which is being held on November 8th in Eastleigh. https://cbuilde.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1777643
Michael Wadood BSc(Hons),PPCABE, FCABE, C.Build E, FRICS, MCIOB, Chairman of  Southern Region