The last of May and the first of June, 2023, were quite exciting for the FRISSBE team. It was a great pleasure for us to host experts from abroad and to discuss sustainable built environment. The workshop gathered 32 individuals from 9 different research institutes across Europe, all member organizations of the ENBRI network.

There are new challenges associated with the quest to achieve a sustainable built environment, as many new construction materials, systems and technologies are being incorporated to reach the sustainability goals set out at various socio-political levels. These ambitious goals bring new fire hazards and risks that are essential to address for sustainability to be truly accomplished.

A 2-day Expert Workshop “Fire safety and sustainability” was organized by ENBRI (European Network of Building Research Institutes) and the FRISSBE project within ZAG (Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute). The attendees were representatives of Czech Technical University in Prague - University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB), SINTEF, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Faculty of Civil Engineering at University of Zagreb, Instytut Techniki Budowlanej (ITB), ÉMI Nonprofit Kft., Istituto Giordano and Buildwise.

The event focused on discussing both the possibilities and challenges in order to ensure future sustainable and fire-safe built environments that contribute to local, regional, and global sustainability goals. Here are the topics that were addressed:

• Fire safety and sustainability,
• LCA including fire,
• Sustainability calculations including fire as a scenario,
• Fire safety in timber buildings,
• Fire toxicity,
• Fire safety of Batteries and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS),
• Fire safety of PV systems on roofs,
• Fire safety of building envelope and façade systems and
• Fire safety of modern construction materials and systems.

The programme itself was divided into 4 sessions:

1. MODERN ENERGY PRODUCTION AND STORAGE
2. WOOD AND BIO-BASED MATERIALS
3. FACADES AND FIRE SAFETY
4. FIRE SAFETY, TESTING AND SUSTAINABILITY

The highlights were discussions that followed each session, in which valuable experience and knowledge were shared. One of the advantages was to become more familiar with  practices and regulations from other countries.

As the first day took place in the Fire laboratory in Logatec, naturally the participants had a chance to attend a guided tour of the new facilities, which opened recently. The second day was organized at ZAG’s headquarters in Slovenia’s capital, where we were pleasantly surprised by our ERA Chair holder at FRISSBE, prof. Grunde Jomaas, who could joined us briefly.

After the closing speeches we said our goodbyes, hoping to meet old (and new!) friends at such future events.

Thanks to all for your attendance and contributions!