Warringtonfire is marking the 50th anniversary of its first commercial fire test, which took place at a newly completed fire testing laboratory in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, in the summer of 1972. 50 years later, what is reported to be the UK’s oldest existing fire resistance testing laboratory, continues to operate.
Mark Cummings, Technical Director at Warringtonfire, said: “Since 1972, we’ve conducted tens of thousands of fire tests at our High Wycombe laboratory, all designed to ensure that the products our customers develop are safe, compliant and fit for purpose. It never ceases to amaze me that many of the products that we all walk past every day, in offices, airports, schools or hospitals, will have been developed and tested at our facility at High Wycombe and we’re extremely proud of our work.”
He continues: “Our focus for the future is to continue working with key trade associations and standards committees using the technical expertise we possess, particularly of those colleagues in our Scope and Governance team, to constantly raise industry standards.
As well as 50 years of fire testing at High Wycombe, this year also marks two further significant milestones. It is 25 years since the introduction of sister company BM TRADA’s Q-Mark third party certification scheme, and 30 years since the inception of the Warringtonfire Certifire scheme. Both have played a critical role in raising standards of fire protection in the built environment.
“We have come a long way since our first ever test at this site, and the products that our customers have developed and tested at our facility have undoubtedly had a positive impact on the built environment,” said Mr Cummings. “It is a great foundation on which to build on and to enable us to continue to make tomorrow safer than today over the next 50 years.”
