The North American Modern Building Alliance (NAMBA) of the American Chemistry Council convened its first-ever Building Fire Safety Symposium November 18-20, bringing together architects, engineers, fire safety experts, building officials and others to discuss the joint responsibility of the entire value chain involved in the fire safety of building design, manufacture and construction.
Throughout a series of individual presentations and panel discussions, participants discussed a variety of topics such as safeguarding buildings against fire from design to code compliance; how fire testing shapes building safety standards; emerging challenges associated e-mobility devices and building fire safety; and fire safety and the effective use of combustible materials in the building envelope.
“Plastic building materials provide numerous benefits, including affordability, versatility, comfort and energy efficiency,” shares Paul Coleman, senior manager at Huntsman and NAMBA Board Chair. “At our inaugural Building Safety Symposium, we brought together a wide range of experts to discuss how we can continue to help ensure that our products deliver the benefits that owners, architects, engineers, specifiers and others expect and that they also contribute to the overall fire safety of the buildings in which they are used.”
The 2024 Building Fire Safety Symposium included:
- A panel discussion during which participants cited complacency, push back against code requirements and a perception that fire safety and sustainable construction are incompatible as challenges that fire safety stakeholders face.
- A presentation by Jeff Hugo, vice president of codes, standards, training and education at the National Fire Sprinklers Association, on the successful application of fire sprinkler systems in new high-rise buildings and the need to retrofit existing high-rises with automatic systems.
- A panel discussion regarding the pitfalls and challenges related to NFPA 285 Engineering Judgements, during which panelists discussed the opportunity, challenges and limitations associated with the acceptance of test data extended to support substitution or modification to an enclosure assembly.
- A Keynote Address by Amara Rozgus, editor-in-chief of Consulting-Specifying Engineer, during which she shared new data on compensation among engineers in the United States, which was up three percent on average in 2023.
“Having experts from across the country, who are involved in many different aspects of the building fire safety industry, all in one room have the conversation is what really made the Symposium a unique experience,” said Indya Rogers, Director of Plastic Building and Construction at the American Chemistry Council. “It was a chance for people to interact with professionals they don’t normally work with, and that made for a very productive and informative event.”
Coleman closed the Symposium by declaring it, “a resounding success that inspired valuable conversations amongst industry experts and professionals.”
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