Ash & Lacy CEO Receives Prestigious Fire Safety Accolade

Ash & Lacy CEO Dr Jonathan Evans has been listed in the Top 10 of the Fire Safety Influencers category of the prestigious IFSEC (International Fire and Security Exhibition and Conference) Global Security & Fire Influencers 2021 awards.

The awards are designed to recognise the commitments from individuals across the globe. Nominations were invited from the IFSEC Global audience and beyond, then, a panel of judges, drawn from across the industries and barred from featuring in the list themselves, assigned points to each nomination based on the persuasiveness of the nomination, their research into the nominee and their own knowledge of the nominee’s contributions to their field. The judges were also permitted to submit a limited number of nominations themselves, which were then scored by the other judges.

The judges’ comments read as follows:

“As CEO of Ash & Lacy, most recently Jonathan has used his influence and expertise to deliver technical talks and presentations to local authorities and warranty providers to inform on the topic of fire safety and regulatory compliance.

“He has led mindset change throughout Ash & Lacy, driving the development of innovative new non-combustible cladding systems and achieving growth of these safer cladding systems not only in the UK, but internationally.

“Jonathan has also pledged to support tenants burdened with the cost of replacing unsafe cladding by foregoing profit associated with replacement products sourced through his business. He has urged the industry as a whole to follow suit.

“In 2017, he was selected as an industry expert representative for the advisory panel responsible for overseeing and reviewing the Government-directed DCLG testing programme, while was also part of the BS 8414 committee setup to review the standards of testing, and contributed to the BRE ‘Non-ACM’ working group.

“In the wider community, Jonathan has devoted a lot of time to sharing his knowledge and expertise, helping those affected by the consequences of unsafe cladding by explaining technical issues and advising residents.”

Commenting on the accolade, Jonathan said: “I believe that only a fundamentally different approach to building regulations can create a meritocracy within the construction industry that will lead to a higher quality and safer built environment for the benefit of society. But pushing for change can be a demoralising quest, so it’s encouraging to be recognised and to be reminded that many others feel the same.”

More details of the awards can be seen by clicking here.