FEATURE ALL FIRED UP
January is often a time to refl ect on the past year and plan for the next. David Jolliffe, CEO at CGI Group, manufacturers of Pyroguard, spoke to Tanita Cross about his vision for the future of the North West based fi re safety business.
In 2012/13 British Fire and Rescue Authorities attended 192,600 fires. Out of these recorded incidences, 3,100 fires were in retail units and 2,600 were on industrial premises. When it comes to fires in public buildings, it is as much a moral duty as a legal obligation for owners to ensure that workers and visitors can be easily and quickly evacuated out of harm’s way.
Since 1988, CGI International has been developing fire safety solutions to help responsible parties get people out of burning buildings safely. Sold under its flagship brand, Pyroguard, the company currently boasts a portfolio of 44 types of fire glass solutions and there are plenty more in the pipeline.
Research and development are big business at Pyroguard. With its factory in Haydock, Merseyside, a private test furnace in the east of France and a team of four PhD chemists on its payroll, Pyroguard is determined to optimise fire glass to the highest possible standards.
David Jolliffe, CEO of CGI International, emphasised the need to stay ahead of the game in the fire safety industry: “Building products have quite a long life cycle but the development cycle for them is also long, so if you’re not working on them today, when your product does start to become uncompetitive – whether that’s in 10, 15, or 20 years – you’re not going to have anything to come in and replace it.”
“WITH ITS FACTORY IN HAYDOCK, A PRIVATE TEST FURNACE IN FRANCE AND A TEAM OF FOUR PHD CHEMISTS ON ITS PAYROLL, PYROGUARD IS DETERMINED TO OPTIMISE FIRE GLASS TO THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE STANDARDS.”
The classifications of Pyroguard’s products already range from integrity only (E) – to ensure that the glass stays in its frame when subjected to flames – to full insulation (EI) which limits the rise in temperature on the non-fire side of the glass. The solutions can deliver protection from 30 minutes to 3 hours in accordance with British and European Standards and are sold as far afield as Poland, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. This international demand for Pyroguard’s products demonstrates that they can do the job they were designed for extremely well.
However, in an industry dominated by a few big names, like Pilkington and Saint-Gobain, Pyroguard is still a relatively small fish. It’s for this reason that David Jolliffe focuses his own and his team’s attention on developing the fire glass of the future:
David Jolliffe, CEO at CGI Group, manufacturers of Pyroguard.
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“If you don’t invest in this type of activity, you’re gambling with the long term future of the business. You look
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