Ensuring Fire Safety in the face of Climate Emergency
5:00pm - 6:30pm /
Monday 28th April 2025
/ Venue: Lecture Theatre A Central Teaching Hub
- Martina Manes
- Admission: Free
- Event website
- Book now
Add this event to my calendar
Click on "Create a calendar file" and your browser will download a .ics file for this event.
Microsoft Outlook: Download the file, double-click it to open it in Outlook, then click on "Save & Close" to save it to your calendar. If that doesn't work go into Outlook, click on the File tab, then on Open & Export, then Open Calendar. Select your .ics file then click on "Save & Close".
Google Calendar: download the file, then go into your calendar. On the left where it says "Other calendars" click on the arrow icon and then click on Import calendar. Click on Browse and select the .ics file, then click on Import.
Apple Calendar: The file may open automatically with an option to save it to your calendar. If not, download the file, then you can either drag it to Calendar or import the file by going to File >Import > Import and choosing the .ics file.
Join international fire expert Professor Luke Bisby, Personal Chair of Fire and Structures within the School of Engineering at The University of Edinburgh for talk 'Ensuring Fire Safety in the face of Climate Emergency - Lessons from Mass Timber Buildings'.
This talk will discuss the regulation of fire safety for the built environment in the context of English and Welsh Building Regulations and specifically use the fire safety of mass timber buildings as a lens through which to consider important aspects of the UK building regulatory system, particularly when architects and structural engineers seek to rapidly innovate in the face of the Climate Emergency. The key differences between timber buildings and buildings constructed from non-combustible materials will be highlighted. Some of the regulatory challenges and changes that have occurred in the UK since the Grenfell Tower fire - and what these mean for mass timber buildings - will also be addressed. Professor Bisby will link some of the highlighted issues to a number of the recommendations made in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Final Report; however, he will not comment directly on the Grenfell Tower fire.
Where is this event taking place?
University of Liverpool, Central Teaching Hub, Lecture Theatre A
Speaker Bio
Prof Luke Bisby is Personal Chair of Fire and Structures within the School of Engineering at The University of Edinburgh. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Fire Safety Journal (Elsevier) and has extensive experience of fire safety and structural engineering research and consultancy, instruction as expert witness, university teaching and administration, promotion of public understanding of science and engineering, and wide-ranging professional activities. His work has been particularly influential at the interface between structural engineering and fire safety engineering, and Luke advises industrial and government fire safety research organisations and regulatory bodies internationally. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institutions of Fire Engineers and Structural Engineers, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. For 7+ years, Luke was instructed as an expert witness to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. His work for the Inquiry included a detailed forensic study of the external fire at Grenfell Tower, a large programme of experiments to identify and characterise the reaction-to-fire and system behaviours of materials and products used within Grenfell Tower’s external cladding system, and a detailed historical study of fire safety regulation, testing, and previous cladding fires in the UK. Luke has also previously appeared as a presenter in a range of engineering documentary television series, including “Impossible Engineering”, “When Big Things Go Wrong”, and most recently “Disaster Autopsy”.
This talk will discuss the regulation of fire safety for the built environment in the context of English and Welsh Building Regulations and specifically use the fire safety of mass timber buildings as a lens through which to consider important aspects of the UK building regulatory system, particularly when architects and structural engineers seek to rapidly innovate in the face of the Climate Emergency. The key differences between timber buildings and buildings constructed from non-combustible materials will be highlighted. Some of the regulatory challenges and changes that have occurred in the UK since the Grenfell Tower fire - and what these mean for mass timber buildings - will also be addressed. Professor Bisby will link some of the highlighted issues to a number of the recommendations made in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Final Report; however, he will not comment directly on the Grenfell Tower fire.
Where is this event taking place?
University of Liverpool, Central Teaching Hub, Lecture Theatre A
Speaker Bio
Prof Luke Bisby is Personal Chair of Fire and Structures within the School of Engineering at The University of Edinburgh. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Fire Safety Journal (Elsevier) and has extensive experience of fire safety and structural engineering research and consultancy, instruction as expert witness, university teaching and administration, promotion of public understanding of science and engineering, and wide-ranging professional activities. His work has been particularly influential at the interface between structural engineering and fire safety engineering, and Luke advises industrial and government fire safety research organisations and regulatory bodies internationally. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institutions of Fire Engineers and Structural Engineers, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. For 7+ years, Luke was instructed as an expert witness to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. His work for the Inquiry included a detailed forensic study of the external fire at Grenfell Tower, a large programme of experiments to identify and characterise the reaction-to-fire and system behaviours of materials and products used within Grenfell Tower’s external cladding system, and a detailed historical study of fire safety regulation, testing, and previous cladding fires in the UK. Luke has also previously appeared as a presenter in a range of engineering documentary television series, including “Impossible Engineering”, “When Big Things Go Wrong”, and most recently “Disaster Autopsy”.