Today our Fire Engineering Group hasexpanded to six full time engineers withadministrative support and is dealing with anever increasing workload of approximately 60to 80 major complex London developments atany one time. The jobs can be large or small,simple or complex and contain varyingdegrees of performance based design.

Very large and very tall structures arealready planned for the capital and fire engi-neering is playing its part, pushing theboundaries and making use of new technolo-gies, as they become available. To maintaincompetency levels we organise internal CPDevents with speakers from the full spectrum ofindustry. This is bolstered by two way second-ments with our consultant colleagues and theprovision of consultants training daysdesigned to increase awareness of fire brigadeand fire safety issues. There are two charteredengineers in the group currently registeredwith the Engineering Council and the aim isto help other group members to achieve char-tered status.

External consultancy servicesWe also offer external consultancy services

for a range of clients. This generates incometo support our other activities and also widensour experience and appreciation of the com-mercial sector. We concentrate on work areasthat fit with our regulatory profile, ie thirdparty checking, peer review, mediation and

training services. We maintain effective linksand partnerships with industry. A good exam-ple follows concerns about how our opera-tional crews interact with engineeredbuildings should a fire occur. We thereforedeveloped and introduced the Premises Infor-mation Box system in partnership with GerdaSecurity Products Ltd.

The system is now recommended for allengineering projects we are involved with andits benefits have been recognised by its intro-duction across a range of other non-fire engi-neered buildings and structures. We maintainintellectual property rights for the system andare currently developing a royalty agreementwith Gerda in respect of them marketing thesystem.

CommitmentLondon Fire Brigade has demonstrated its

commitment to fire engineering. It has estab-lished and resourced a large team that pro-vides a unique service that works effectivelywith its colleagues in both the public and pri-vate fire safety worlds. Given the volume andvariety of work the team has developed a highlevel of experience and has used this to pro-vide a service to other agencies. We feel thatthe team has set the standard for the way thefire and rescue service should deal with fireengineering in the UK and has been instru-mental in ensuring a consistent approachacross the London area.

The authority has been successful in attract-ing sponsorship from the developers of majordevelopments such as Heathrow terminal 5and the new Wembley Arena to fund addi-tional posts to deal with the high fire safetyand operational planning workloads associat-ed with these major projects. The authorityalso intends to establish a small project teamto deal with all the FRS implications of theOlympics 2012 in a coordinated fashion.

Heathrow T5Heathrow Terminal 5 is one of the largest

construction projects in the world. The termTerminal 5 gives a misleading impression thatit is just one more terminal, but it is actuallyon the scale of a complete airport in its ownright. Terminals 2 and 3 could fit inside thecore building of Terminal 5. The new controltower is 87m (compared to the 50m height ofNelson’s column) and site includes a six plat-form underground station, a multi storey carpark for 500 cars and a 600 bedroom hotel.There are enormous hangars to service thenew Airbus 380 ‘super jumbo’ planes and ahigh capacity fuel storage facility.

Heathrow’s Terminal 5, together with majortransport intersections, will accommodate 30million passengers a year and we are workingclosely with BAA to ensure effective fire safe-ty measures are built into the new terminal.Construction of the Terminal 5 began in 2002and it is due to be fully operational in 2013.

The fire safety aspects of this project areimmensely complex, highly unusual and com-mercially sensitive. In what we believe is thefirst sponsored team of its type in the UK,developed in partnership with BAA, LondonFire Brigade staff are delivering a direct,proactive and consistent liaison, monitoringand advisory service to the various projectteams.

Effective emergency coverThames Gateway is one of the largest devel-

opment opportunities, and we are working toensure not only that the new developmentshave appropriate fire detection and suppres-sion systems fitted, but that we are preparedto provide effective emergency cover reflect-ing the population growth and changing risks.Major transport developments such as theChannel Tunnel link and Crossrail pose theirown challenges and again we are working withthe developers to make sure that effective firesafety measures are built in.

The Government has streamlined fire safetyarrangements with the introduction of a newframework that pulls together more than 100different pieces of earlier legislation. Thesechanges come into effect in April 2006, andwill nearly double the number of premisessubject to regulation. We are planning to dealwith this expansion within current resourcesby adopting a risk based inspection strategy,where the frequency of our visits to checkpremises reflects the assessed fire risk in thosebuildings.

A supplement to Emergency Services Times and Fire Times S21

Fire safety on some of theworld’s biggest projectsAchieving world class performance is about finding innovative ways to deliver

services. London was one of the first brigades to introduce and develop fire

engineers from amongst its own staff. John Judd, London Fire Brigade’s

Assistant Commissioner for Community Safety, looks at what this means, as

well as the key projects underway and in the pipeline.

EST November 2005 31/1/06 15:26 Page S21