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OFR’s 2025 Fire Safety Research: Key Insights and Innovations
Fire Performance of Modern Construction Materials An important theme of the papers addresses the fire performance of modern construction materials, particularly timber and glazing systems. This includes experimental and analytical studies on the reaction-to-fire behaviour of laminated glass and the performance of CLT. External Fire Spread and Façade Risk Closely aligned with the above work…
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OFR’s 2024 Research: Key Insights and Innovations
The start of the new year is a great time to reflect on OFR’s publications from 2024. The collective body of research conducted over the past year has showcased a multidisciplinary approach to fire safety engineering, uniting experimental investigations, computational modelling, and practical case studies. By addressing topics on material performance and human behaviour, while…
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Exciting News for the Future of Sustainable Construction
As you may have seen on our social channels, last month we launched the UK’s first Commercial Timber Guidebook. This ground-breaking guide represents a major step-forward in supporting the use of sustainable timber in office buildings.
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Giving evidence in The Scottish Parliament
It’s a privilege to be able to contribute to the political discourse around the creation of safe and sustainable built environment, so it was great this week to see our colleague Kate Swinburne in The Scottish Parliament, attending the committee meeting for Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee.
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A core concept for tall buildings
UK government has confirmed that it will adopt an 18-metre height threshold for second staircases in all new residential buildings. In response, we’ve released updated plans of our second staircase concept – something which will support the viable development of safe, tall buildings in an increasingly difficult construction market. Here, Rich tells us more.
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Helping our colleagues through the OFR Technical Institute: Part 3
We are always looking for new and innovative ways in which we can support our team with personal and professional development. The OFR Technical Institute was set up to offer bespoke training and has helped many colleagues since to develop their knowledge and skills. Here – in the last of this week’s blog series on the…
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Helping our colleagues through the OFR Technical Institute: Part 1
This week we are launching a new series of blogs, in which colleagues tell us about their experiences with the OFR Technical Institute. Today we start with Bianca Coutinho who joined the business in 2021 and has recently been promoted from graduate to fire engineer. She has previously worked within the in fire engineering field with businesses internationally in…
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A new concept for high rise safety; creating safer and sustainable buildings with 81% net:gross
The construction industry has a responsibility to make high rise buildings safer and more sustainable… Matt Brook Architects made a proactive move to address this with the design of a core that was safer for residents and firefighters as well as being highly efficient. Working collaboratively with OFR, the core has been developed and validated…
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Investing in future talent through our OFR Technical Institute
The OFR Technical Institute was introduced in 2020 – giving colleagues high quality, in-house training that helps them deliver great work for our clients. Here, our Technical Director, Dr. Danny Hopkin tells us more.
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Built by Nature awards €200,000 grant toward development of a Commercial Timber Guidebook
To foster cross-sector industry alignment on solutions to ensure the widespread adoption of large-scale mass timber offices, the Built by Nature Fund has awarded a €200,000 grant to a diverse UK consortium – including OFR Consultants – focused on unlocking the barriers to structural timber through the development of a technical Commercial Timber Guidebook.
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Waste to Energy: how our team is expanding its portfolio with progressive sustainability-focused projects
Having completed works at the Baldovie Waste to Energy plant at Dundee, we are bringing our expertise to a number of other projects in the UK. Here OFR director Jamie Gibson explains more…
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Our work at Smithfield in Birmingham
The 17-hectare Smithfield regeneration scheme in Birmingham is set to transform this historic market site into a people-centred yet sustainable, low-carbon destination. Here, our project director, Stewart Dabin talks about our involvement.
