Grenfell Tower report: fire prevention and design in New Zealand
Following the release of the final report into the catastrophic Grenfell Tower fire, architects have been called out for systemic failure in their duty of care for the prioritisation and protection of life. The Guardian’s architecture and design critic, Oliver Wainwright, recently questioned why “many architects (are) now utterly detached from the realities of construction?”
Leading the Knowledge & Innovation Team at Jasmax, Stephen Thurman is a long-time advocate for safety in design. He has dedicated his career to preventing what Wainwright describes as ‘buck-passing’ behaviours in the profession, through a commitment to participation in shared research that advances knowledge of how contemporary building systems perform during a fire.
Since 2017, and in response to international concern around the fire safety of buildings, Stephen Thurman has represented Jasmax and the New Zealand architecture profession within BRANZ multi-disciplinary working groups.
These groups were formed to increase awareness of the interconnected issues in fire prevention and design to protect life, through ensuring BRANZ fire testing models reflect contemporary construction assemblies, rather than materials in isolation.
As a result, today’s testing more accurately reflects the reality of complex façade typologies used in the construction industry. BRANZ working group participation has led to significantly improved understanding of fire events and performance with benefits of increased coordination to support safe and effective responses to fire and increased building resilience through incorporation of evidence-based design learnings.
As the New Zealand Building Code Fire and Building Consent requirements have further strengthened, demonstrating compliance has become more complex, both for façade designs and the passive fire protection systems incorporated within buildings. In parallel, the insurance industry has been re-evaluating fire risk, with greater scrutiny of materials and systems.
Contrary to recent reports of the architecture profession failing in its duty of care for building occupants, Jasmax has been deeply engaged across all levels of the construction, design and consenting industry, so that the risk of tragedies such as the Grenfell Tower fire, are reduced now and in the future. From the outset of all projects, Jasmax works alongside consulting fire engineers to develop thorough and effective fire safety strategies. Through our QA processes we ensure fire design is integrated, coordinated, and monitored. The protection of human life, and property, is a matter of utmost priority, leading to best-practice fire safety design solutions that also mitigate downstream risks for asset owners.
Leading the Knowledge & Innovation Team at Jasmax, Stephen is highly respected for his contribution to the construction and compliance industry in New Zealand. An architect with over three decades experience, he is a regular advisor to the NZIA, and contributor to MBIE and BRANZ working groups, bringing depth and breadth of knowledge in building materials, construction systems and compliance pathways to the design and detailing of buildings nationally.
Read Oliver Wainwright’s article on The Guardian here: ‘Professional buck-passers’: why the excoriating Grenfell report was right to damn architects | Grenfell Tower inquiry | The Guardian