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At The Crossroads

At a Crossroads is a fire safety webinar tailored specifically to fire safety professionals within the Public Housing Sector.

The key topics of discussion during this event will include:

  • A comprehensive overview of the Building Safety Fund and why certain projects are being rejected
  • A breakdown of the transition timeline of the newly published Building Safety Bill that is now on its way to Royal Ascent
  • Examples of a Building Safety Case
  • Presentation on Sprinkler Systems looking at steel vs plastic pipework and the benefits of concealed heads
  • An overview of Fire Compliant Cladding and how they can adhere to individual aesthetic specifications
  • An update on the guidance of EWS1 forms and Fire Risk Assessments

With plenty of networking opportunity, and keynote speakers with years of experience in the industry, this event is definitely a must-attend.


Speak to a fire safety expert

Ventro Webinar-at-the-crossroads

Ventro has put together a targeted series of events running throughout the year covering all aspects of fire safety across every sector to work with, share, learn from and teach our conscientious clients and to continue to drive improving standards.

In addition Ventro’s technical team provides a number of on-site and virtual CPD events that can be tailored to our customers specific requirements and provide a unique consultancy approach to support in the delivery of fire safety programmes of work.

Guest Speaker Profiles

Anthony Taylor

Chair WG8 & Interim Chair – Building Safety Alliance

Anthony Taylor is a professional GRC (Governance, Risk & Compliance) consultant. Anthony is an Honorary Member of RICS, a Chartered Member of IOSH, a member of the Business Continuity Institute, IIRSM and holds PIEMA; He is currently the proprietor of Resolve Risk Ltd offering specialist risk management consultancy. He has, since June 2018, served as Chair for Working Group 8 (Building Safety Manager) in relation to industry’s (Competence Steering Group) response to Dame Judith Hackitt’s Report. Anthony is currently the Interim Chair of the Building Safety Alliance, a body created to implement the recommendations made by WG8 and work with the built environment sector, the Regulator and government to improve residential building safety. Additionally, he Chairs several committees on a pro bono basis.

Ann Bone

Area Sales Manager - Rockwool

Ann is a specialist in fire rated cladding and has been at Rockpanel for more than thirteen years. Ann looks after sales for Rockpanel in and around Scotland, North East England and Northern Ireland.

Howard Melvin

Technical Director - Ventro Group

Howard is the Technical Director at Ventro, and has been working in the fire industry for over 30 years. He is experienced in many practical aspects of project management, having a detailed knowledge of Health & Safety guidelines (working with our external consultants Citation) and fire safety standards. Fully qualified by BM TRADA, he provides valuable oversight and direction for the regional Health, Safety and Quality Teams on the operational side of the business.

Gary Townsend Vila (FRSA, DipM)

Charter Strategic Lead At Building A Safer Future - Considerate Constructors Scheme

Gary has over 25 years experience of working as a senior executive in the public, central and local government and not-for-profit sectors in a range of strategy, communications, corporate affairs and organisational development roles. He was formerly Deputy Chief Executive at Creative Skillset (ScreenSkills) the Sector Skills Council for the Creative Industries. He joined Building a Safer Future Charter at the outset and worked with Chief Executive Amanda Long to develop the detailed proposals to Early Adopters and MHCLG to become administrative partner of the Building a Safer Future Charter. Gary has been leading the work to develop the Charter’s benchmarking and independent verification framework and Charter Champion Company Status.

David Bell

Technical Support Engineer – Viking

David is trained as a mechanical design engineer and started as a fire sprinkler design engineer in 1986, working to become Design and Project Office manager for a UK leading fire sprinkler contractor. In August 2013 David Joined Viking EMEA as the Technical support engineer for the UK & Ireland. Supporting customers and assisting with end users specify fixed fire protection systems. David is a member of the BAFSA technical committee, is a RSA Council member, Joint FIA & BAFSA water mist technical committee member and participates on BSI FSH18/5 for water mist systems. He has also been involved in writing and supporting the publication of British Standards for sprinkler systems and components for over 8 years. David’s expertise is Special Hazards and water based fire suppression systems.

Frazer Keam

Sales Consultant - Firntec

Frazer is a sales consultant at Firntec and actively supports a large number of organisations across a variety of sectors with a large amount of fire safety consultancy services, from fire risk assessments and strategies, to measured building surveys, to bespoke fire safety consultancy packages, Frazer works hard within the industry to support the sector with their ongoing challenges and demands around fire safety and support them with reaching compliance under all current legislation.