Insights
The latest from OFR
Building Magazine lists OFR as one of the UK’s top consultants
OFR Consultants has ranked in Building Magazine’s annual ranking of the top consultants in the UK’s construction sector. The company features in the top 150 practices in the country; the listings also show that OFR is the only specialist fire engineer to appear in the Top 50 Engineers list.
OFR ranked as one of the UK’s best companies to work for
OFR Consultants has been named in a list of the Best Companies to Work for 2022. The company ranked highly in the lists, earning a place in the top 10 Best Consultancies to work for. OFR was also ranked 41st in the UK-wide overall companies category - making it one of the best businesses to work for in the country.
OFR presented with the Silver Employer of the Year Award
OFR Consultants was recognised in the Employer of the Year category at the SME National Business Awards in London this weekend. We received the Silver award for Employer of the Year, underscoring the company's dedicated efforts in people development and fostering an open, inclusive working culture.
An international award for our colleague Carmen
Huge congratulations to our colleague Carmen Gorska who is fresh back from her trip to Tsukuba, Japan where she received the coveted silver Thomas Philip Medal of Excellence award for her scientific paper titled ‘Fire dynamics in Mass Timber compartments’ at the 14th IAFSS conference.
We’ve appointed four new board directors – and more great new OFR colleagues
We've announced the appointment of four colleagues to its board, news which comes amidst a spate of colleague announcements. Stewart Dabin, Dr Danny Hopkin, Jack Wilshaw and Richard Rankin each join the board as directors.
A RIBA Prize for Houlton School
This year, the RIBA launched its very first RIBA Stirling Prize award for Reinvention. The inaugural winner was Houlton School in Rugby – a scheme on which OFR is part of the design team
Our 2024 graduate intake programme is live
Our OFR colleagues have been out and about touring universities across the UK this month, telling graduates about our intake programme for 2024. Here, our colleague Karen Hugh tells us more
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.
Sam Bryant wins coveted SFPE UK Award
OFR Consultants colleague and Fire Engineer Sam Bryant has won a coveted award from the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE). The annual awards programme celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the profession.
Even better days – more OFR colleagues support good causes
Colleagues in Scotland supported The Conservation Volunteers (TVC) this week – a charity organising and managing conservation projects all over the UK. In this article, our colleague Lewis Strachan tells us more about supporting the organisation at a site in Glasgow as part of our Better Days offering.
Contributing to clearer rivers in Bath
Our OFR colleagues in Bath recently took time out of their days to support the Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART), an organisation dedicated to putting healthy rivers at the heart of community life. The team joined the scheme as part of our Better Days programme, an OFR initiative which enables all of our colleagues to support causes that are important to them – by providing an allocated day of paid leave each year. In this article our colleague Rhys Williams tells us more
Investing in people to create safe and sustainable buildings
Competency has always been important in the construction industry and in this new article, our colleague Steven Ferreira – who along with colleagues James Daniels and Ahmed Maani recently completed his Chartership – talks about the importance of professional qualifications, and the mechanisms in place at OFR as we support colleagues through their academic endeavours.
The Paper Garden in pictures
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.
Contributing to a landmark collaborative facility – our work at NMIS
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…
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 Institute – our colleague associate director, Tom Bentley tells us more….
Helping our colleagues through the OFR Technical Institute: Part 2
Investment in personal and professional development is an important part of our culture at OFR, and today – as we continue our new series of blogs, in which colleagues tell us about their experiences with the OFR Technical Institute – we meet Muthia Khairunisa. Muthia gained her bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Kyoto University, Japan and her Master's in Fire Safety Engineering from the IMFSE program – here she talks about benefitting from the OFR Technical Ins
OFR and STA clarify CLT fire compliance for industry
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.
