Reinforcing commitment to improving fire safety standards in construction

October 2022 

Reinforcing its commitment to improving fire safety standards in construction, Minster has further expanded its dedicated fire protection team.

Following the appointment of Sophie Jenkins-Downes earlier this year, the specialist distributor has appointed Holly Taggart to the role of Sector Sales Manager Fire Protection North.

Holly’s appointment is significant for the business, meaning that Minster now has a trio of industry experts in place ready to support customers with specialist fire protection solutions.

Fire Protection Sales Director Carrie Blackshaw said: “Holly has a wealth of knowledge in the fire protection arena and is a welcome addition to the team. Alongside Sophie and myself, she will play a key role in driving fire knowledge both within the business and the wider industry, as well as expanding our commercial operations in the North.

“As a business, we are focussed on going far beyond the realms of simply supplying and distributing product, our objective is to add value to projects, collaborating with manufacturers to ensure that the products and solutions we provide enable the client to maximise both the build efficiency and technical performance of the project. Fire protection is an area of the industry that is, quite rightly, coming under much scrutiny at the moment. Our aim is to support our customers with a high degree of technical know-how to find the right solutions that stand up to today’s exacting requirements.”

Showcasing the extent of Minster’s commitment to fire protection, the business has revealed that 99% of its entire branch team has now received in-depth training on products and their suitability in a broad range of applications. Technical enquiries are still handled by the specialist fire protection team but this level of training means almost all staff are well equipped with product and solutions knowledge as well as understanding of the current building standards. 

In addition to Holly’s recruitment, Minster’s fire protection team has been further boosted as a result of Carrie Blackshaw’s appointment to the Council of the Association for Specialist Fire Protection (ASFP).  With over 16 years’ experience in the industry, this is a significant achievement for Carrie and a great reflection of her commitment to improving fire safety standards in construction.   

Carrie said: “I am passionate about supporting the ASFP in the delivery of its goals specifically around improving information sharing and collaboration throughout the construction industry. As the law tightens post Grenfell, the ASFP has a significant obligation to ensure that all businesses recognise the ASFP as an accessible resource for training and skills improvement and I welcome being a part of that movement.”

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