Fire Door Safety Week spokesperson Hannah Mansell has been recognised for her role in the campaign’s success at the inaugural ASFP Annual Awards Lunch.
Mansell, who is also technical manager British Woodworking Federation, has been a tireless champion of the importance of properly specified, installed and maintained fire doors for a campaign that just had a record-breaking fifth edition.
Held at the Tower of London on 8 December 2017 the ASFP awards were judged by the ASFP’s Strategy Group and recognise individuals who advanced awareness, quality and education within the sector.
The event was open to ASFP members only.
The winners are as follows:
Passive Fire Protection Advocate of the Year and Fellowship of the ASFP: Niall Rowan, ASFP COO
COO of the ASFP since January 2017, Rowan develops strategy, financial planning and manages the association’s marketing, membership development, training and technical objectives.
Fellowship of the Association for Specialist Fire Protection: Martin Adie, Wilmott Dixon
The ASFP’s first main contractor member, Adie was described as influential in raising the quality of installed passive fire protection by the judges.
Judges were impressed in particular by leadership shown in establishing a Fire Protection training academy for Wilmott Dixon staff, who are taught about the role of passive fire protection through mock-ups of good and bad installations among other practical exercises. Adie was also praised for advocating third-party certificated products and installers, as well as penning several good-practice articles for his employer’s internal quality magazine.
Passive Fire Protection Advocate of the Year: Hannah Mansell, British Woodworking Federation
Hannah Mansell is been an energetic, passionate and persuasive advocate for the importance of fire doors. The voice of the campaign since its inception in 2013, Mansell has appeared on Radio 5 Live, LBC, BBC Radio Leeds and talkRADIO. She can take plenty of credit for the 350 pieces of media coverage related to Fire Door Safety Week in 2017, also including pieces in the Daily Telegraph, The Mirror and this publication, and 16 broadcast items in total.
The campaign was backed by 273 organisations – 54% more than last year – from the social housing, private rented housing sector, construction supply chain, fire and building consultancies and local fire and rescue services.
“We were pleased to announce Hannah Mansell as ASFP Passive Fire Protection Advocate of the Year 2017 in recognition of her enthusiastic promotion of fire doors as critical life safety products,” said Niall Rowan, COO of the ASFP. “Hannah has made fire doors her passion and has passed on this dedication to so many others through a wide range of activities including a huge number of presentations at conferences and exhibitions throughout 2017 and her tireless support of Fire Door Safety Week.”
The award categories for 2018 will be announced soon and nominations sought ahead of the 2018 Awards Lunch, scheduled to take place on Friday, 7 December 2018.
Ticket sales for the event raised £1,700 for the ASFP’s chosen charity, the Children’s Burns Trust. Members and guests also raised £2,135 for Grenfell charities through table donations.
