Speakers and Presentations at the Fire Station Design Conference

11 September 2024

Speakers and Presentations at the Fire Station Design Conference

Speakers and Presentations at the Fire Station Design Conference

Scheduled to start at 9.30 am on November 5th at the De Vere Cranage Estate a Grade II listed hotel and venue in Holmes Chapel, this event is dedicated to exploring the latest trends and advancements in fire station design and construction.

The Fire Station Design Conference presentations on the day will be aimed specifically at property, estates and facility departments and Fire Station management and will be delivered by professionals from the architectural world and manufacturers of specialist equipment for Fire Stations and training facilities on-site together with the security aspect of the station. Case studies and presentations of finished projects will also be discussed.

The main focus of the conference is to look at improving the facilities, layout and design of a Fire Station to help protect firefighters and support workers from the risk of decontamination from harmful particulates.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire & Rescue Service (HIWFRS): Fire Station Design Conference Presentations

Steven ‘Robbie’ Burns, Watch Manager of Fire Contaminants in HIWFRS and On-Call Firefighter, shares his very personal cancer journey which is likely to be linked to occupational exposure to fire Contaminants. His message is that Firefighters are suffering with various diagnoses of disease and illness, including at least 7 different cancers from exposure at incidents and when on stations from cross-contamination.

Operational firefighting practices and PPE are being reviewed at a national level, along with estates. We are becoming more aware of research that suggests when returning to stations, our estate, including the flow, cleaning, and its maintenance are crucial for the future protection of Firefighters and all others who could be in contact with these fire contaminants.

Emily Frith, Senior Estates Improvement Manager for HIWFRS, details the Service’s ongoing ambitious refurbishment project, the Retrospective Design Principles Project (RDP).
As our fire stations age, they start to become unfit for purpose and outdated in terms of meeting current legislation, best practice, inclusivity requirements and managing the risk from fire ground contamination, whilst also growing disproportionately expensive to run and maintain. RDP aims to retro-fit the wider Estates strategy into 12 existing wholetime fire stations to address the issues that come with an aging estates, and create Healthy and Inclusive workplaces.

Presentations from Steven Lennon HLM Architects looking at;

• Decontamination – Improving fire station design and processes to protect firefighters and support staff from carcinogen-carrying soot and other harmful particles.
• Carbon Reduction – Improving fire station design to reduce energy usage and working towards the target of Net Zero.
• Gender Neutrality – Improving fire station design and layout to offer spaces for men, women and gender-neutral workforce and visitors.
• Mental Wellbeing – Improving fire station design and layout to offer quiet decompression spaces for all works as and when needed.

A presentation from Jorg Winkler and Glen Godfrey at Crofton Engineering looking at the latest FBTU’s using new generation LPG – buildings and structures.

Jorg Winkler

Glen Godfrey

Also presentations from Essex County Fire and Rescue Service.