{"id":3705,"date":"2021-05-12T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-388643-2486556.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3705"},"modified":"2022-05-12T17:09:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T16:09:06","slug":"building-safety-sector-spotlight-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/safecility.com\/building-safety-sector-spotlight-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Building Safety Sector Spotlight Part One: Industry Evolution, Regulations and New Systems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Industry experts across the spectrum of the building safety sector offer some valuable insights into an industry that is harnessing cost-effective building compliance solutions in the Internet of Things era.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As the concept of building safety<\/a> becomes more complex, building technologies are becoming increasingly integrated as the benefits of improved safety, reduced costs and a lower environmental impact are better understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The era of smart buildings has arrived as digital innovation transforms the spaces we live and work in through an ever-expanding suite of technologies. As the sector grows, so too does the number of players operating within it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A leading expert in the field of emergency lighting safety systems with over 25 years\u2019 experience in consultancy and design in both Irish and international markets, David Vaughan regularly delivers briefings on industry developments as Managing Director at Light Solutions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Emergency lighting is legislatively driven. As well as having emergency lighting installed at every public premises, building owners also have to ensure the building is compliant with the laws and certified and maintained to industry standards”<\/strong><\/p>David Vaughn, Light Solutions Managing Director<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Having cut his cloth in the construction industry in the early 1990s as a design engineer, Vaughan set up Light Solutions in 2005 and today the company supplies bespoke emergency lighting products across the construction sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we do is quite specialised,\u201d says Vaughan. \u201cEmergency lighting is legislatively driven. As well as having emergency lighting installed at every public premises, building owners also have to ensure the building is compliant with the laws and certified and maintained to industry standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked how the sector has evolved since he first entered it, Vaughan admits the landscape has changed significantly. \u201cIn the early noughties we pretty much focused on converting lighting products into emergency lighting,\u201d he says. \u201cSo any commercial lighting that was in a premise would have a mains light and an emergency light, and we\u2019d modify those products. So big lighting brands would have a number of lights going into a public premises and we would convert about 30% of them into emergency lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo that was quite a lucrative business, but then the industry became a little bit of a victim to LED technology in the late noughties, which was driven by the large manufacturers. This effectively meant that products didn\u2019t need to be reengineered. There was no need for the labour or the control aspect of our business, so there was a change in how the product was designed for the market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Involved with the lighting industry since 2010, Cian O\u2019Flaherty has valuable experience in B2B customer sales, product development and project management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As CEO of Safecility<\/a>, he’s responsible for managing the growth of IoT compliance products that simplify the automation of emergency lighting and other legally required testing for clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2018 I was looking for a new challenge,\u201d explains O\u2019Flaherty on the formation of the company. \u201cAs I was familiar with discussions around smart buildings and the technology around the Internet of Things (IoT) and automation, I thought, \u2018What if there was a wireless retrofit product for emergency lighting automation that let building owners see their compliance and safety in real-time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result of this musing became Safecility: a firm that focuses on removing the pain of compliance testing through automatic testing and reporting. The Safecility product<\/a> connects to any DALI \u2013 a digital addressable lighting interface \u2013 emergency luminaire and is the first of its type on the market to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe big players have proprietary technology \u2013 a walled garden of applications and markets \u2013 and they want to be able to lock people into having to buy their product in perpetuity. I fundamentally don\u2019t think that buyers want that market in the future.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>Cian O Flaherty, Safecility CEO<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Flaherty\u2019s role is essentially to bring products to market. \u201cI was lucky to have had previous domain expertise,\u201d he says, \u201cso I could see how customers operated. I had enough contacts in the industry and could see how the product was made and delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as supporting the Safecility team who have spent over two years bringing the vision to market, communicating the concept of the software is also a key component for the CEO. \u201cMy job is really communicating with people we think we can help and showing them what\u2019s possible, as this is very much a new space. I try to secure the funding, the clients and the marketing that will make this a sustainable business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite enjoying success within the emergency lighting realm, O\u2019Flaherty believes there are problems within the industry that need to be tackled. \u201cIn the lighting space, the industry is moving too slowly,\u201d he says. \u201cThe big players have proprietary technology \u2013 a walled garden of applications and markets \u2013 and they want to be able to lock people into having to buy their product in perpetuity. I fundamentally don\u2019t think that buyers want that market in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continues: \u201cSmart technologies and lighting have been hampered by what increasingly looks like a \u2018land grab\u2019 from large firms to try and corral customers onto their platform and keep them there. Customers are quite wary of that and they\u2019re much more savvy in today\u2019s marketplace. They want to be able to opt in and out of services. People expect that level of integration from their buildings and their hardware. So I\u2019m not certain that the market has fully woken up to the demand that customers have for open and interoperable products.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an extremely difficult area, incompetent design and installation, commissioning and servicing \u2013 in a nutshell, we have major problems in the industry.”<\/strong><\/p>Paul Condron, PCCE Consulting<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Chartered engineer and registered consulting engineer Paul Condron made the transition to emergency lighting and fire safety in 2004. Since then, his company, PCCE Training and Consulting<\/a>, has been working across specialist areas of consultancy, such as emergency lighting, electrical building services and fire alarm systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like O\u2019Flaherty, Condron also has some bugbears within the fire safety sector. \u201cIt\u2019s an extremely difficult area,\u201d he admits. \u201cIncompetent design and installation, commissioning and servicing \u2013 in a nutshell, we have major problems in the industry. I\u2019m the only one doing fire alarm courses online in Ireland, and that\u2019s a pity in a way, because there should be more training available. The other problem is that there\u2019s a real lack of knowledge from a lot of parties of what’s required in terms of fire safety.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Senior Architect in Economic Development at Limerick City and County Council, Rosie Webb leads programmes to stimulate and consolidate the historic centres of Limerick<\/a>. Prior to her role as a public service architect, Webb worked in private practice in London, Chicago and Dublin on projects ranging in scale from housing and civic offices, to museums and stadia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think everyone is aware that the change of pace is very rapid these days,\u201d she comments of how the industry has evolved. \u201cLimerick City and County Council are doing what I would call public interest development, where we\u2019re going out and proactively activating land and developing it. That kind of structure has created an environment for innovative construction in Limerick, which I think is certainly unusual in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Webb\u2019s research focuses on community co-design processes to create more liveable public environments. \u201cWhat we look at is trying to develop new products and services in terms of the future transitions we need to make in regard to digital working and climate change,\u201d says Webb. \u201cThe spatial and economical strategy we focus on is how to improve the city centre in terms of dereliction and vacancy. These are problems that a lot of cities have where old buildings are not easy to adjust to modern living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She adds: \u201cOur first project is focused on our Georgian neighbourhood of the city centre. It is one of our key transformational projects to be completed by 2030. We\u2019re focusing on that as our first pilot area as a way of setting up an innovation ecosystem to allow us as government to work more closely with academia and also our industry partners for the benefit of our citizens and local communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Compliance is Key<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Building owners or managers need to make sure safety systems are up to scratch to guarantee they have covered both the organisation and all inhabitants in the event of an emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of codes and standards are in place to maintain the necessary standards of relevant safety, health, amenity and sustainability within the industry in relation to all building services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

However, according to Safecility\u2019s Cian O\u2019Flaherty, many of the current regulations are not fit-for-purpose. \u201cThey\u2019re written for a perfect world with an infinite amount of resources and time,\u201d he says. \u201cSo nobody is perfectly compliant, and that\u2019s a problem because if everyone is affirming that they are compliant, if the worst was to happen, you have an insurance issue. So there has to be some way to allow customers to achieve a perfect compliance record without adding a huge workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve created a system that can conduct daily and weekly checks, as well as your quarterly and annual testing. All of that is logged and it\u2019s logged forever. That\u2019s a perfectly compliant system in perpetuity, as long as you repair what is defective. We think that process is scalable and retainable in other critical fire and water safety areas within estate management.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Regulations are written for a perfect world with an infinite amount of resources and time….so nobody is perfectly compliant”<\/strong><\/p>Cian O Flaherty, Safecility CEO<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Rosie Webb believes that achieving compliance under current regulations can be difficult, particularly with older buildings. \u201cThere are a lot of regulatory aspects that you have to set aside for older builds. It isn\u2019t standardised, so there\u2019s no one solution. When you\u2019re dealing with an old building, it\u2019s almost like you\u2019re on your own and reinventing the wheel the whole time. That exercise and the uncertainty around it, and the fact that you have to go and get that approved, is a difficulty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Vaughan believes the issue doesn\u2019t necessarily sit with the regulations. \u201cA lot of the standards are not weak,\u201d he says, \u201cit\u2019s more to do with how these standards are policed and enforced. There are a lot of complex systems that go into a public premise and there are a lot of stringent standards that need to be adhered to, particularly with older buildings. The onus is on the occupier of existing buildings, as well as new buildings, to comply with standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Flaherty also highlights ignorance around compliance as a common issue. \u201cMost of the market is dominated by subcontracting and outsourcing, so testing is rarely undertaken by those who own or manage the building. One of two things needs to happen: the regulations need to be loosened, or the risk of not being compliant forces people to adopt the technology required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe regulations aren\u2019t necessarily fast-moving, but once they change it can be very difficult to encourage people to upskill and to learn what the new changes are. It\u2019s also a cost-benefit issue: human beings are very poor at perceiving risk and, as a result, we tend to just do a \u2018good enough\u2019 job. Increasingly, this approach looks like it\u2019s not going to be acceptable, but technology will have a big role to play there. The regulations are probably going to become more onerous and ignorance will probably no longer be a justification.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Vaughan adds: \u201cA lot of business owners just don\u2019t know what their obligations are. \u201cSo we try to push that and explain easily in layman\u2019s terms what is required. If something is complex and if people don\u2019t understand it, they\u2019ll often steer clear of it. So we would encourage a lot of CPD [continuous professional development] trainers that are Engineering Ireland-approved to explain and show lighting suppliers or clients what is required to be compliant \u2013 and, more importantly, why this is important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Webb points to what she sees as a high level of conservatism from regulators as being detrimental to the housing sector. \u201cMy sector set out what we call a pre-procurement process,\u201d she explains. \u201cFrom our point of view, we have a persistent problem where the market isn\u2019t delivering good solutions around upgrading historic buildings. One of the key problems is upgrading for fire safety. When you upgrade those buildings they basically fall under \u2018a new build\u2019 and then the upgrade becomes extremely difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of business owners just don\u2019t know what their obligations are.”<\/strong><\/p>David Vaughn, Light Solutions Managing Director<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

With no viable solution on the table, Limerick City and County Council teamed up with Enterprise Ireland, Innovate Limerick and Dublin City Council to search for a company to develop, trial and monitor innovative solutions within Limerick\u2019s Georgian district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Webb explains how Safecility came out on top in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) challenge. \u201cThe company was already servicing buildings in terms of mechanical systems and Cian and his team were able to take this grant to work with us to figure out a system to ramp-up a self-certification system into something that can actually check the behaviour of people who use the buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe great thing about working with Safecility is that we gain a better understanding of the people that require the regulations and we can tailor solutions around that.\u201d Whether dealing with a publicly owned or a privately owned operator can also affect the nature of some issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPublic organisations tend to be more compliant-conscious,\u201d states Vaughan. \u201cCommercially, you just don\u2019t know what you\u2019re going to get because those organisations are trying to drive costs down to remain competitive. We\u2019re very much a niche organisation that focuses on quality, maintenance and backup \u2013 that\u2019s what we\u2019re known for within the industry. Therefore, we tend to steer away from the low-cost projects because you\u2019re competing with a lot of other players and products.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI find that better attempts to implement things properly are made in the public sector,\u201d adds Condron. \u201cIf you look at a big pharmaceutical company, for example, they will have a lot of corporate resources in the system in terms of being compliant. But, then on the flipside, you\u2019ll find large companies that see us as the lowest common denominator. If I turn around to a client and say, \u2018You can spend your budget on an additional fire detector or emergency light, or alternatively invest in more CCTV cameras,\u2019 they\u2019re going to go with the CCTV option because they don\u2019t have the confidence in the other systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis proves to me that there\u2019s a huge problem around knowledge. The result being that substandard labour is being employed because an emergency lighting system is seen as a necessary evil and building owners don\u2019t understand the obligations they\u2019re under.\u201d Vaughan would like to see an improvement in how compliance and policing is monitored within the industry. \u201cWe can see that there are improvements going on in the market,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe larger multinationals will always be a bit more stringent with the standards, compared to the smaller businesses, but, again, that comes down to an awareness of responsibilities and an ability to give power to companies like ours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vaughan also highlights an unwillingness to invest on emergency lighting as a commonplace problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLighting systems can last a long time,\u201d he comments, \u201cand we find that many organisations find it hard to get budgets to change lighting to the latest technologies, as this can be a huge capital investment. It is definitely easier to upgrade your lighting system these days, but there is a lot of inertia around it because people\u2019s focus on their own business tends to be, \u2018If it\u2019s not broken, then why fix it?\u2019 Therefore, we find that we repair a lot of old products.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Post-Grenfell Landscape<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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With the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017 still fresh in the memory, implementing effective safety measures should be a primary concern for all building owners and managers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2018 independent review<\/a> of building regulations and fire safety<\/a> led by Dame Judith Hackitt has set out more than 50 recommendations to deliver a more robust regulatory system. As a result, a building safety regulator will become the dominant regulatory paradigm of this era.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Flaherty envisions a decade of change ahead. \u201cIn ten years\u2019 time we\u2019ll look back at Grenfell as a watershed moment. Prior to this, there was a huge amount of autonomy and we saw points where that failed. Human beings are very poor at perceiving risk and self-certification is a difficult model when you\u2019re faced with actors who don\u2019t fully live up to expectations. Ignorance will no longer be a justification for neglect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Hackitt Report has identified concepts such as the \u2018golden thread\u2019, which is a permanent digital record that acts as a unified database that tracks how buildings are constructed and managed. That\u2019s an incredibly powerful concept.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hackitt Report also suggests nominating named individuals as accountable parties. \u201cI think the regulations are going to become far more comprehensible in making people accountable for work, upkeep and safety,\u201d says O\u2019Flaherty. \u201cThat is going to be impossible without technology, because you\u2019re not going to have enough staff and manpower to take on this upcoming burden of work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ireland has of course been victim of its own fire tragedy: the 1981 Stardust incident in north Dublin. The event resulted in the Fire Services Act, 1981, which Paul Condron refers to as a \u201cbrilliant piece of legislation\u201d. The Act is still in operation today for fire safety legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have different systems and different methodology here, compared to the UK,\u201d says Condron. \u201cIn Ireland, we don\u2019t have a fire rescue service; we have a fire service that does rescue, but it\u2019s not its primary function. In the UK, they have a fire rescue service where they say to people, \u2018Stay in the building and we\u2019ll rescue you.\u2019 There\u2019s a whole different mind-set here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He adds: \u201cAnother thing you have to remember is that fire alarm and lighting services are completely different. Fire alarms are more important in terms of life safety, as they alert individuals to danger, whereas emergency lighting is there in instances of what may or may not be an emergency. A lot of what happens here in terms of fire is due to poor installation and poor maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time you get on an aeroplane, you get a speech about how to get out of it in the event of a fire. Whereas in a building, you may be living there for ten years and no one\u2019s ever told you how to get out.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>Rosie webb, Senior Architect Limerick City And County Council<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Webb believes that current reviews taking place in the UK and Ireland around fire safety compliance and the way people operate a building \u2013 both in terms of how it\u2019s maintained and how people live in it \u2013 is a positive step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Webb, educating the public about how to respond to an emergency is vital if further disasters are to be avoided. \u201cEvery time you get on an aeroplane, you get a speech about how to get out of it in the event of a fire,\u201d she says. \u201cWhereas, in a building, you may be living there for ten years and no one\u2019s ever told you how to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She concludes: \u201cA system is needed whereby building owners have to ensure tenants are aware of safety procedures. These new safety systems will allow for a coordinated response and shared responsibility. I believe Safecility will fit very well into that model by showing that, as an owner, you are compliant, and that can lead to a safety conscious community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Click Here to Read Building Safety Sector Spotlight Part 2: New Working Practices, Emerging Technologies and Future Trends<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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