From our London branch
Join us at the Natural History Museum for this free, in-person event hosted by the IFE London branch.
This heritage symposium brings together six speakers from across the fire safety sector to discuss a number of interesting and vital topics surrounding the difficulties of fire safety in historic buildings and balancing safety and security.
Agenda
- 13:00 - Fire Safety in the Natural history Museum - Abigail Dickinson, Senior Fire Health & Safety Advisor, Natural History Museum
- 13:30 - Designing Out Crime in Heritage Buildings - Kate Downs, Strategic Security Lead, Royal Museums Greenwich
- 14:00 - Break
- 14:15 - Balance Between Security and Fire Safety in Museums - Lisa Oflynn, Market Development Manager, Abloy UK, & Justin John, Business Development Manager, ASSA Abloy Group
- 14:45 - Going Beyond Life Safety for Historic Buildings - Dean Morris, Director, Approved Design Group
- 15:15 - Break
- 15:30 - Fire Safety, Emergency Response, and the Conservation of the Historic Environment - Henry Landis, Fire Safety Advisor, Historic England
- 16:00 - Navigating Fire Engineering Compliance Alongside Securing Listed Building Consent - Katie McAndrew, Associate Heritage Consultant & Building Pathologist, H+R
- 16:30 - Q&A
About the Speakers
Abigail Dickinson is the Senior Fire Health and Safety Advisor, at The Natural History Museum since 2019. Prior to joining the museum, Abigail held fire health and safety roles at The University of the Arts London, Essex Police, and First Choice Holidays.
Kate Downs leads on security strategy the Royal Museums Greenwich, one of the UK's significant UNESCO World Heritage estates.
Prior to joining the heritage sector, Kate spent 19 years in policing, mostly with the British Transport Police, culminating in leadership of the national Designing Out Crime Unit. Throughout her policing career, she specialised in crime prevention problem-solving, security consultancy and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), advising on major infrastructure projects and leading national crime reduction initiatives.
Having transitioned into the heritage sector in 2023, Kate has developed a particular interest in applying designing out crime and terrorism principles and problem-solving methodologies to protect heritage sites, collections and visitors from evolving security risks, balanced with the operation and conservation needs of such cultural institutions.
Lisa Oflynn has spent 11 years with Abloy Uk looking after various verticals including Heritage and Museums. She is qualified with the Guild of architectural Ironmongers, Dip GAI and Reg AI and more recently Dip AC in Electric Hardware and Access control. Lisa advises clients on Abloy's complete product portfolio and ensure compliant solutions are specified in regard to Escape Door standards including BS EN 1125, BS EN 279 and BS EN 13637.
Justin John Is the Business Development Manager for door manufacturers and multi-occupancy projects at ASSA Abloy Group. Justin boasts 27 years in multiple sectors in the door industry working with Aluminium, GRP, Steel, Timber and UPVC. He is a former Guild of Architectural Ironmongery DIP / REG Certified and ADSA Certified.
Dean Morris is an experienced fire safety professional with a particular specialism in fire safety within historic and heritage buildings. His professional career spans operational firefighting, fire safety and fire engineering, including work involving prestigious and historically significant buildings.
Historic building fire safety has also been a major focus of his academic development, having completed both undergraduate and postgraduate dissertation research in this field and now commencing a PhD focused on fire safety within these types of properties. Combining academic research with extensive practical experience, Dean has a particular interest in developing pragmatic and proportionate fire safety solutions that balance life safety, regulatory compliance and the conservation of the historic fabric of the properties.
Henry Landis, MSc MIFireE EngTech is a Fire Safety Adviser with Historic England, working within National Specialist Services – Technical Conservation, Engineering and Emergency Planning.
Henry began his fire service career with Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service in 1985 and subsequently served in a range of operational, training, command and specialist fire safety roles. His longstanding professional interest in the protection of historic buildings led him to specialise in the relationship between fire safety, emergency response and the conservation of the historic environment.
He holds an MSc in Building Conservation and is a Member of the Institution of Fire Engineers and an Engineering Technician. He is currently completing doctoral research examining fire risk to England’s heritage assets, with particular emphasis on fire incident data, the identification of heritage risk and the application of GIS to improve the evidence available for fire and emergency planning.
Katie McAndrew is a heritage professional with over 20 years’ experience working with historic buildings and is a full member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. She has a degree in architectural and urban conservation at Northumbria University (1997-2000) followed by a post-graduate certificate in archaeology of standing buildings at Leicester University (2007-2009).
Before joining H+REI Katie spent 18 years working as a local authority conservation officer and has a comprehensive working knowledge of the heritage protection system and wider planning system. She is a longstanding member of Society of Protection of Ancient Buildings and the Victorian Society and an active contributor to the War memorials online, photographing Britain’s war memorials and assessing their condition. In 2022 she also became a committee member on the IHBC East Anglia Branch committee.