This month, we celebrated the completion of The Paper Garden, a new community project for London which has see the transformation of a former car park into a 200m2 classroom and ecology garden – a collaborative seedbed in which to nurture creativity. Here our colleague Liam Caddy shares some of the pictures and highlights. 

From RIBA Stage 2 through to completion, we have worked on behalf of HLM Architects as part of the team delivering the incredible new National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) building. Principal Fire Engineer, Graeme Shaw shares how our fire engineering guidance on the building will help to raise the bar for collaboration across sectors…

Leading fire engineering consultancy, OFR Consultants working in collaboration with the Structural Timber Association (STA) is offering the wider industry valuable clarity on the fire safety design of mass timber buildings. 

On behalf of British Land, we have been supporting the ongoing progress of the Canada Water masterplan across various elements of the project. Here our design director Jack Wilshaw tells us more about a very special, sustainability project.

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 through testing. Read more about the process here.

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.

Our Mind Matters team is made up of mental health first aid trained individuals who are passionate about supporting their colleagues and raising awareness of issues such as anxiety and depression. With Mental Health Awareness Week underway, we look at how the team has been helping others throughout the year and the topics they have been exploring during the campaign week.

OFR prioritises colleague wellbeing, and we have a range of initiatives driven by our Mind Matters team who share information and deliver engaging sessions throughout the year. This month, our brilliant colleague Sam Bryant helped us celebrated MHFA Whole Self Day, delivering a talk on how we can bring whole selves into the workplace. Here, she tells us about learning how not to leave an aspect of our personality at the door. 

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.

Since 2016, we’ve worked hard to establish a flexible and inclusive working culture, working with our colleagues to nurture an environment where productivity is more important than presenteeism. It’s something that’s appealed to the many working parents in our team who this month, have been given even more benefits from OFR. Our head of HR Lucy Kirkup explains.