The Fire Safety Leaders Summit presents a distinguished line-up of industry experts and keynote speakers. Gain valuable insights and expertise on best practices, regulatory updates, and current topics influencing the fire safety sector. Stay informed and inspired by leaders at the forefront of the industry.
Competence is one of the most talked-about topics in fire safety today - but what does it actually look like in practice? While frameworks and regulations continue to evolve, many organisations are still working out how to demonstrate competence beyond qualifications and compliance alone. Increasingly, attention is turning to the role of behaviour within competence frameworks, and how this influences real-world outcomes.
This raises important questions: what role do client organisations play in defining and demanding competence? And how do we strike the right balance in the “fire safety equation” between skills, knowledge, experience, and behaviour?
This session brings together perspectives from across fire safety delivery, systems, and technology to explore how competence is applied, evidenced, and maintained in real-world environments. Covering installation and maintenance, digital systems, oversight, and the accountability of providers, the panel will share practical insight into what “good” looks like on the ground, and where organisations are getting it right, and wrong.
With the Residential Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (RPEEPs) regulations coming into force in April 2026, responsible persons must identify residents needing assistance, conduct person-centred fire-risk assessments (PCFRAs) and implement measures to facilitate evacuation.
This session will explore practical ways to gather and maintain resident data, link it to building information, perform PCFRAs efficiently and communicate evacuation strategies. It will discuss the challenges of keeping data current, sharing relevant information with fire services and balancing compliance with resident privacy.
As Partner of Fire Engineering at Ridge, and former lead for one of London’s largest local authorities, Keith brings 20 years of experience reviewing work from both sides of the fence.
In this focused 30-minute session, he will highlight the most common mistakes he sees in risk assessments and engineering submissions - and what separates robust, defensible work from the rest.
You’ll gain practical insight into how work is evaluated, what clients really expect, and how to avoid the pitfalls that can undermine otherwise competent projects.
With competence and accreditation rising rapidly up the agenda, this session offers timely, real-world guidance that we can all apply.
Representation across the fire sector is evolving, but progress requires more than intent. It demands leadership, accountability, and action that delivers measurable outcomes.
This session, supported by the Women In Industry Network, highlights how organisations are turning conversations about culture and representation into real-world results. Panellists will share concrete strategies for improving leadership behaviours, workplace culture, recruitment, retention, and career progression, showing what is truly working -and where challenges remain.
Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of the practical steps leaders are taking to drive change, and how these decisions impact workforce performance, decision-making, and long-term sustainability across the sector.
With an ageing workforce and increasing regulatory expectations, supporting the next generation of fire safety professionals has become a critical priority for the industry.
This session, in support of our next-gen network ambassador programme, will take a practical, structured look at how individuals enter the sector, and what is needed to attract, develop and retain new talent. The panel will begin by sharing first-hand experiences of entering the industry, before exploring how fire safety can be made a more visible and appealing career choice for young people.
The discussion will then move into key entry pathways, including apprenticeships and agency routes, and how these operate in practice for roles such as fire risk assessors, for example. From there, the session will address the main barriers to entry, including training costs, time to competence and commercial pressures, while also considering how competence, compliance and safety standards can be maintained from the outset. Finally, the panel will look ahead to what the industry needs in practice to better support the next generation, and how organisations can create clearer, more sustainable pathways into fire safety careers.
This session explores the critical role of professional standards in ensuring safety, quality, and accountability across the industry. It highlights the importance of developing and maintaining competence at all levels, while adhering to evolving regulatory and compliance frameworks. The session will focus on best practices, challenges, and practical approaches to strengthening skills, improving performance, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
This panel explores the critical role of multidisciplinary collaboration in delivering safe, compliant, and high‑quality housing projects, with a particular focus on fire safety. Housing developments rely on the coordinated efforts of designers, main contractors, specialist subcontractors, and fire safety professionals to ensure that systems such as fire alarms, fire doors, passive fire protection, and sprinklers function as a fully integrated solution rather than isolated components.
Drawing on real‑world project experience, panellists from different contractor disciplines will discuss common challenges that arise when coordination breaks down—such as design clashes, late changes, unclear responsibilities, and installation sequencing issues—and the potential impact these can have on building safety, compliance, and resident confidence. The discussion will highlight the importance of early engagement, clear communication, and shared accountability across design, construction, and commissioning stages.
The session will also examine best practice approaches to collaboration, including coordinated design reviews, consistent information flow, and a strong understanding of how fire strategies are translated into practical on‑site delivery. Ultimately, the panel will demonstrate that effective multidisciplinary collaboration is not just a contractual or procedural requirement, but a fundamental element in delivering safe homes and maintaining trust in the housing sector.
Organised by the FPA, this engaging panel session will tackle industry concerns around fire safety in modern methods of construction (MMC). The discussion will consider gaps between innovation and safety systems in the construction sector, including best practice challenges in the MMC industry and the need for fire safety to be on the agenda across all sectors.
Panellists will also discuss the danger of MMC fire risks being treated the same as those in traditional construction, particularly given the reliance on contractors to ensure fire stopping measures are installed correctly once materials are taken on-site.
This is a session fire safety providers cannot afford to miss.
Be among the first to hear the findings of independent research commissioned by NSI and BAFE into how Responsible Persons and Duty Holders are changing the way they buy fire safety services.
Based on insights from decision-makers across the UK, the study reveals a market undergoing significant change. Expectations are rising, scrutiny is increasing and buyers are becoming far more focused on how competence is demonstrated.
The research uncovers surprising findings about:
Bonus: Pick up a limited printed copy of the report at the talk or from the NSI stand in The Fire Safety Event (4/H100).
With the introduction of the Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025, new expectations around Residential PEEPs (RPEEPs) and Person-Centred Fire Risk Assessments (PCFRAs) are creating significant practical and legal challenges for duty holders.
This panel brings together perspectives from managing agents, consultants and enforcement to explore what effective implementation looks like in practice. Discussions will examine ongoing confusion around responsibility between Responsible Persons, managing agents and accountable persons, and how this is playing out across residential portfolios.
Key themes will include how organisations are preparing for these changes in real terms, from staff competence and system readiness to client engagement and market capacity. The panel will also explore the financial and operational implications of delivery, including funding routes, cost responsibility and the pressures of scaling consistent approaches.
Further discussion will address the competence required to undertake PCFRAs, the challenges of assessing vulnerability in the absence of full information, and the potential gaps between legislative intent and practical delivery.
Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of where responsibility sits, what “readiness” really looks like, and how to navigate the complexities of delivering RPEEPs in a way that is both practical and defensible.
Hosted by RiskBase, this session is designed to inspire and inform the next generation of fire safety professionals.
Bringing together exhibitors and individuals interested in apprenticeships, the session will provide a practical overview of the fire safety sector, highlighting career pathways, training opportunities, and the benefits of earning while learning in a high-demand industry. While primarily aimed at apprentices, students, and early-career talent, employers are also encouraged to attend to better understand the evolving talent pipeline and apprenticeship options.
Following the session, attendees will be guided to the Networking Café for an informal networking opportunity with industry professionals. With encouragement to connect directly with employers, this session aims to bridge the gap between emerging talent and the sector - helping young people build confidence, spark conversations, and potentially open the door to future career opportunities.
Join an expert led panel exploring how connected fire detection systems are transforming safety within homes and providing greater peace of mind. Featuring industry insight from Aico alongside real world experiences from clients managing large scale installations.
Fire risk assessors are facing criminal prosecution, with outcomes often hinging on documentation, interpretation and the availability of evidence. This raises fundamental questions around where responsibility sits, how decisions are made under scrutiny, and how consistently enforcement is applied in practice.
Drawing on direct conversations with assessors who have been subject to criminal charges, this session will explore how these cases actually unfold. It will examine whether prosecution is fast becoming an occupational hazard, whether this level of exposure is even insurable, and what is required to build a genuinely defensible position when decisions are challenged, sometimes many years after the original work was completed.
The panel will discuss what a strong Gateway submission looks like, what key elements need to be considered early in the design and construction process and common reasons why Gateway 2 and Gateway 3 submissions are rejected or delayed. They will share their thoughts on competence, the importance of collaboration and the management of golden thread information, including the role that digital platforms and BIM can play.
This session explores the key updates in BS 8214:2026 and their impact on fire door specification, installation, and maintenance. Featuring perspectives from both steel and timber door sectors, it offers practical insight into how the changes affect compliance, standards, and real-world application across the industry.
This presentation explores the evolving fire safety landscape in the UK following regulatory changes such as the Building Safety Act, highlighting increased accountability for individuals and organisations. It focuses on advancements in passive fire protection, including modern fire door design, improved firestopping materials, and smart ventilation systems. The talk also emphasises the growing role of digital tools like BIM modelling and data-driven compliance systems to ensure accurate installation, ongoing maintenance, and a verifiable “Golden Thread” of safety information across complex building portfolios.
Lithium-ion batteries are now found in everyday homes - powering e-scooters, e-bikes, and other devices - but they bring serious fire risks if not managed properly. This practical session will explain how lithium-ion battery fires ignite, including issues related to the use of conversion kits and how fire can spread through thermal runaway, with real-world examples of common causes. We will share strategies for educating residents on safe storage and charging practices and establishing effective building policies and preparing for forthcoming regulation. Attendees will leave with actionable steps to reduce risks, protect residents, and build safer homes.
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