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Expert Industry News

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.

Sam Liptrott

Director

Accreditation Awards News

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.

Lucy Kirkup

HR Director

Expert Industry Recruitment

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….

Tom Bentley

Associate Director

Expert Industry Recruitment

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

Muthia Khairunisa

Graduate Fire Engineer

Accreditation Expert Industry Recruitment

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 Brazil and Ireland. Here she tells us more…

Expert Industry News

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 through testing. Read more about the process here.

Expert News Recruitment

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.

Expert News Research

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.

Expert Industry News

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…

Jamie Gibson

Associate Director

Expert Industry News

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.

Stewart Dabin

Design Director

Expert Industry News

Fire strategies for prisons; our latest projects further diversify our OFR portfolio

Our OFR portfolio spans multiple sectors and multiple countries. From shopping malls in Africa, to a research centre in Antarctica, to Google’s new HQ in London. Recently we’ve expanded that offering again working with the Ministry of Justice on fire strategies as part of a £1bn project that will upgrade four prisons across England.

Richard Rankin

Design Director

Expert Industry Timber & Sustainability

Our London team supports Silvertown

eam, but also with ongoing work on some of the city’s most talked about developments. Here, principal fire engineer, Matt Stallwood talks about how we have been involved at East London’s pioneering Silvertown development.

Matt Stallwood

Principal Engineer

Expert Industry News

Our work in the arts and culture sector

We've been privileged to be involved in some of the UK’s most ground-breaking projects – but it’s our growth within the arts and cultural sector following previous project successes that has seen our team build on its industry-leading experience. Here, our director Andy Passingham talks about how we are providing the knowledge and skills to ensure that heritage buildings such as galleries and museums can continue to be safe and accessible for the public well into the future.

Expert Industry News

Seven interesting projects from seven great years!

Our jobs as fire engineers are always interesting, with a broad portfolio that covers everything from the world’s tallest Octagon-shaped tower to a research station in the Antarctic, to… a new music studio for an 80s pop band. Here we look at some of our most unique OFR projects.

Expert Industry News

Collaboration is key in spreading the word on fire safety

Following the news of our partnership with the Fire Science Show – a weekly podcast connecting fire researchers and practitioners with fire engineers – we’ve invited the podcast’s founder Wojciech Wegryznski to tell us more about his mission.

Expert Industry News

Our newest partner – the Fire Science Show! 

We are always looking for ways to amplify our work, share best practice and engage with more great engineers in our sector to pioneer new ways to protect people, place and planet. Today we have announced a new partnership with the Fire Science Show – a weekly podcast connecting fire researchers and practitioners with fire engineers. Here, our colleague Daniel Codd tells us more. 

Daniel Codd

Operations Director

Expert Industry News

Simon Lay has been appointed to the Building Advisory Committee

Simon Lay has been appointed to the newly established Building Advisory Committee which has this week hosted its first meeting. The BAC was established under the Building Safety Act 2022 as part of the Government’s reforms of building safety. The reforms are designed to create lasting change and make it clear how residential buildings should be constructed, maintained and made safe.

Simon Lay

Director