The winners of the Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP) 2022 Passive Fire Protection Awards were announced at the Association’s Awards Dinner at the Park Regis Hotel in Birmingham on 25 November. Members gathered at this sell-out event to recognise and celebrate the sector’s achievements and hear all the latest news from the ASFP.

Chosen by an independent panel of judges, the winners were presented with their awards by special guest speaker Mandy Hickson, a former Royal Air Force pilot. Mandy later regaled guests with tales from her time as a fast jet pilot in Iraq, sharing insights of successful leadership and highlighting the importance of encouraging diversity in all industry sectors.

The 2022 Award winners included:
- ASFP Installation: Coopers Fire, Battersea Power Station. An installation of 86 fire and smoke curtains. This involved re-design and bespoke engineering of seven FireMaster Concertina curtains of 25m width and 12m height in straight sections to meet the project requirements.

- Passive Fire Protection Innovation: Fire Protection Ltd, FPLHV. This fire-resisting high voltage cable enclosure offers unparalleled insulation performance at high temperatures. Prefabricated in modular section to ease installation, the cables are fitted to the lid section and connected via internal channels, before the closing underside is fitted to fully enclose the cables.

- Marketing Campaign: Minster. The ‘Spread the Word’ campaign focused on heightening awareness of Minster’s passive fire protection (PFP) range. The drive successfully stimulated interest and delivered unprecedented levels of sales of Minster PFP products.

- Best Customer Service: Quelfire for its commitment to raising awareness of PFP through technical support, social media outreach and training initiatives, including the development of the Quelfire Knowledge Hub.

- Training and Development of the Year: Alec Purdie, Quelfire. Having joined Quelfire in early 2020 with no prior fire industry knowledge, Alec quickly completed the IFE level 3 training, passing the IFE exam in 2022. He was accepted into membership of the IFE at Technician level and continues to maintain his CPD learning. He also conducts training for Quelfire customers.

- Highest Engagement of the Year: Siderise for its steadfast support and participation in many of the ASFP activities such as events, marketing campaigns and training. Individual Rising Star: Molly Callaway, TBL Fire Protection. Molly’s professionalism, eagerness to learn and enthusiasm for the industry was quickly apparent resulting in TBL identifying her for their Management Training Programme.

- Lifetime Contribution: Carl Atkinson. Carl was the founder of FSi and served a six year term as vice Chair, Chair and Past Chair of the ASFP. The award recognises his commitment to the ASFP and his lifelong dedication to developing the passive fire sector, raising standards and improving the quality of PFP products and systems.

- Advocate of the Year: Will Pitt of Laing O'Rourke for his dedication to the industry and commitment to the improvement of standards through work such as the Passive Fire Knowledge Group of which he is one of the founding members.

- Academic Accomplishment Awards for achieving the highest marks in the 2022 IFE PFP exams went to Rhea Akiens of Saint Gobain for Level 2 and Malcolm Williams of Quelfire for Level 3.

ASFP CEO Steve Davies congratulated all the award winners:
‘We were delighted to welcome so many members at this year’s prestigious ASFP Awards Dinner. The event has grown significantly since its launch in 2017 and, in 2022, we recognised a hugely diverse range of company and individual accomplishments.

‘All the nominations were of the very highest standard and I would like to congratulate all the deserving winners and everyone who took the time to enter. The entries clearly demonstrated the excellent work, expertise, professionalism and commitment of our members. We were truly impressed by the growing role of ASFP members in inspiring innovation, improving fire safety standards and raising awareness.

‘We also thank our many sponsors including FireFly, Etex, Siderise, Consort and Encon. Without their continued support an event of this scale would not be possible.’

For further information on the ASFP and for passive fire protection advice, visit www.asfp.org.uk