Why the profession has a vital role in fire safety

You may think that, to make a meaningful contribution to fire safety, you need to be an expert in chemical engineering and material science, or a chartered fire engineer who can model complex smoke dynamics. But this is not the case. To me this highlights the benefits of a multi-skilled approach to specialised problems.

My own journey into fire consultancy – like that of many surveyors – started at university during my BSc (Hons) Building Surveying degree, which I undertook from 2009 to 2012 at Leeds Beckett University. Alongside the mandatory modules that gave me a legislative and professional background to fire safety, I chose to take an optional module in my second year focusing on fire safety through design and building management.

It was the mixture of regulation, construction technology and human behaviour that initially piqued my interest in the subject, alongside a respect for the natural power of fire.

It was in my second role as a chartered building surveyor that I started to focus on fire safety full time. Under the tutelage of my line manager and mentor, my interest turned into a passion. We worked closely together, and it was during this time the key role of the surveying profession became apparent.

I was working in the healthcare sector on a recently built hospital and getting deep into the literal nuts and bolts of implementing fire safety. Every hour, I was drawing on my understanding of the RICS competencies Building pathology, Construction technology and environmental services, Contract practice and Legal/regulatory compliance.

While I was cross-referencing design details with manufacturers' information, and checking them against the fire strategy and legislation, I realised that there was a gap in the way we design and construct safe buildings.

Some people involved in the project designed the fire safety strategy, others specified the systems that went into the building, others installed and built them, and then there were those who were managing them in use. But there was no one who linked all these tasks together.

As a building surveyor, I had developed the skill set to join the dots and resolve problems. I could investigate the issues and provide the client with clear recommendations where others were unable to see the full picture.

As surveyors, we also have an equally vital contribution to make in improving the significant volume of building stock constructed and managed under older building regulations and legislation and what was a reactive rather than proactive mindset.

Both these roles will be vast and varied providing any willing surveyor with a rewarding and socially worthwhile career.

I can proudly say I have a role in a multidisciplinary fire consultancy team, half of whom are building surveyors and the other half are specialists in the field. We work together as a cohesive team to manage fire safety for clients.

The team is involved from the outset of projects throughout a building's lifecycle. To quote one of the building surveyors in the team: 'I have never had such a varied workload, on a more varied range of buildings, using as many of my surveying skills as I do now.'

RICS global building standards director Gary Strong comments: 'Fire safety was never a sector that chartered surveyors were widely associated with. After the Grenfell Tower fire that has changed and, as illustrated here, our members are finding many opportunities to be leaders in the field. For more information, please visit the RICS Fire Safety Hub.'