Assuring fire safety competence: HRB Register

Max Fordham’s Luke Hadley (left) and James Byass MCIBSE (right) were the first engineers CIBSE assessed for HRB registration

After the Grenfell Tower fire of June 2017, it became clear that the disaster was not a one-off incident. It was described by Dame Judith Hackitt, who led an independent review of Building Regulations after the fire, as a ‘systematic failure’. 

Among the recommendations in her landmark report Building a safer future, Dame Judith called for more demonstrable competency among those who design and build higher-risk buildings (HRBs).

‘An outcomes-based framework requires people who are part of the system to be competent, to think for themselves rather than blindly following guidance, and to understand their responsibilities to deliver and maintain safety and integrity throughout the life-cycle of a building,’ she said in the report.

The government codified Hackitt’s recommendations into the Building Safety Act 2022, which introduced a duty-holder scheme whereby clients, principal designers and principal contractors have a legal duty to ensure anyone they appoint is competent.

To demonstrate their competency, engineers can sign up to the HRB Register, which proves they measure up to the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence and Commitment Contextualised for Higher-Risk Buildings (UK-SPEC HRB). Both the register and the standard were developed by the Engineering Council in the wake of Dame Judith’s report.

The HRB Register is an assurance mechanism: a way for industry to show what ‘good’ looks like in high-consequence work, and give clients and duty holders greater confidence. For building services engineers, it formalises expectations that many already live by: technical depth, risk-based judgement, disciplined coordination and a demonstrable commitment to safe outcomes (see panel opposite, ‘HRB registration explained’).

CIBSE is one of only five professional engineering institutions offering assessments against UK-SPEC HRB, and has awarded its first certifications to Max Fordham engineers James Byass MCIBSE, partner and director of MEP engineering, and Luke Hadley MCIBSE, partner, director and electrical engineering lead.

Explaining why he had become HRB registered, Hadley says he and Byass wanted to lead by example: ‘The industry is having to change and we wanted to demonstrate that we are prepared to change too.’

The pair were part of a cohort of 10 engineers being assessed and were the first two to make it through the rigorous process and onto the register. ‘This first round of applications was something of a pilot,’ explains Hadley. ‘One of the first things you do is submit a CV, which shows your level of practical knowledge. James has more than 20 years’ experience on HRBs and I have 18 years, so our CVs were considered to be of the right calibre to proceed.’

Byass adds: ‘The process was very comprehensive. An engineering practice report was also required, to demonstrate you meet each of the HRB-specific competencies. That was a huge piece of work.’

‘Then there was the case study – a way to demonstrate all of those competencies again using real-world HRB examples,’ says Hadley. ‘We have someone internally who heads up our engineering standards side of things, Andrew McQuatt, and without him we would not have got there. So part of this is his achievement.’

The pair were invited to feed back to CIBSE on the process. ‘We said what we thought had worked well and what we found a bit arduous. The comments that came back from CIBSE were that it is meant to be difficult – the bar is set deliberately high – and I think we’d both agree that’s the right approach to take,’ Hadley says.

However, while rigour is necessary, a register is of little use if only a few can demonstrate the competencies needed to join it, he adds. A good number of UK-SPEC HRB-qualified engineers is necessary for the certification to be demanded by the industry.

‘We would like to see a balance,’ agrees Byass. ‘We need the confidence in the certification that comes from the high bar, but we also need a critical mass of registered engineers. More people on the HRB Register would make clients more comfortable about demanding it.’

Greater than the sum of its parts

Those seeking to register as UK-SPEC HRB competent should be thinking of buildings more holistically – as a ‘machine’, not a bunch of separate parts, says Hadley. ‘One of the key aspects of a HRB is seeing all of the life-safety components working together, not individually,’ he adds. ‘A project might have fire alarms, smoke ventilation, sprinkler systems and lots more, and our job as building services engineers is to show these elements are working together.

‘For example, when a fire alarm goes off, what should the lifts do? They go to ground. But all those systems need to be set up in that way.’

The Building Safety Act makes it very clear that all of these systems should be tested ‘in anger’ before the build can pass through Gateway 3, which precedes occupation. ‘At the end of a build, time can be tight and people just want their buildings. Having the backup of the act now is really welcome,’ says Hadley.

Byass and Hadley
both worked on the recently completed Bank of Iraq

Early warning

One purpose of the new gateway system is to ensure safety is considered much earlier in a building’s design process. ‘You need to get the complete design on paper to get through Gateway 2 before construction can start, and that must be signed off by the BSR [Building Safety Regulator],’ Hadley explains. ‘If changes need to be made past this point, there is a revalidation process, which is not something developers and contractors will want to do lightly. The fire engineer is allowed more of a voice, too. Previously, they may have been appointed for early-stage advice, but then not retained. Now, the critical value of their role is really understood and they can’t be dismissed by contractors or developers.’

Byass agrees, adding that passive fire stopping is now given more attention. ‘A couple of years ago, it often looked as if this was an afterthought, and fire stopping was applied only after services had been installed. Now, thanks to Gateway 2, we are seeing builders taking it very seriously,’ he says.

As the first engineers to be HRB registered via CIBSE, how do Byass and Hadley see this evolving – and are more engineers at Max Fordham keen to follow? ‘Yes, there is certainly appetite for it,’ says Hadley.

‘There are some fantastic engineers in this industry – lots of people who have what it takes to demonstrate this competence to CIBSE. I’d like to see them standing with us, and we’d encourage them to do it.’ l

CIBSE’s HRB registration is open. Applicants should visit cibse.org/hrb