SAFETY
A modern hospital station – the operational heart of a clinical environment, serving as a central hub for staff coordination, documentation, and communication.
In addition, because complete
evacuation of healthcare sites is often not feasible because many occupants may have reduced mobility, hospitals rely on compartmentalisation, where fire doors and compartment lines contain fire and smoke, buying time for progressive horizontal and vertical evacuation. Given the wide variations in wall composition and fire resistance, accredited testing is essential to validate performance. Therefore, early and close collaboration
between designers, contractors and wall system manufacturers, are essential to ensure openings are correctly specified and tested to maintain vital fire compartmentation.
Mandeep Bansal
Mandeep Bansal is the Technical Advocacy director at Knauf. With over 20 years’ experience, he helps stakeholders identify and address technical competency needs in construction, particularly around gypsum systems. He sits on the Gypsum Product Development Association (GPDA), supporting the development and understanding of gypsum products and new applications in construction. Mandeep’s work
spans training, guidance, and promoting safe, compliant building practices. He has been involved in UK projects since Knauf established its first plasterboard factory in 1988, contributing to expansions and innovations at Sittingbourne, Immingham, and Newport, ensuring technical expertise underpins the delivery of high-quality healthcare and other buildings.
and interpret fire classification and fire test reports is fundamental for efficient Gateway 2 approval. Better know-how will certainly reduce bottlenecks, speed up decision-making, and ultimately support safer healthcare building outcomes. Knauf also provides other practical guidance on interpreting these often-complex documents with CPD workshops, technical literature, and one-to-one consultations, reducing uncertainty and enabling confident, compliant material choices. These digital tools help ensure specification choices align seamlessly with the Golden Thread’s principles of transparency and traceability throughout the project lifecycle.
Continuous development Knauf has embedded continuous learning into its corporate culture for years. More recently, our transition to a competency model has been relatively smooth. This ensures employees and customer-facing teams are consistently upskilled with the critical knowledge and standards required. We will be launching our own CPD on how to read fire classification and fire resistance test reports for drywall systems in 2026. In the meantime, we provide hands-on training courses at our UK Learning Zones in Sittingbourne and Immingham, which focus on installation best practices, fire safety awareness, and competency to support quality assurance across their supply chain. Trainer competency is also monitored.
Driving competency and transparency requires continuous collaboration, knowledge sharing and improvement. This needs to be coupled with: n Investment in training infrastructure and expert delivery teams.
n Providing transparent accessible product performance data to help professionals make informed decisions.
n Development of schemes to enable manufacturers, contractors, architects, and estates managers to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration that will improve standards and consistency in safety delivery across the sector.
Healthcare challenges Healthcare environments must adapt quickly to shifting patient needs, technological advances, and unexpected surges in demand (such as those seen during the last pandemic).
48 Health Estate Journal January 2026
This proactive coordination is essential not only for new builds but also crucially for refurbishment projects to meet evolving fire safety standards and protect lives. Healthcare estates managers and facilities professionals
should: n Demand transparency: Seek supporting test
documentation, from the manufacturer, including examples of fire classification and fire test reports for products and systems conducted at UKAS-accredited laboratories or equivalent recognised facilities under the ILAC MRA.
n Evidence competency: Gather clear records of supplier and contractor training, assessments, and ongoing skill verification.
n Engage early and collaborate: Work closely with manufacturers and contractors from project inception to confirm tested product performance and compatibility.
n Leverage manufacturer training: Partner with trusted suppliers who provide validated training programmes for contractors before site engagement.
n Maintain continuous oversight: Adopt consistent review procedures to monitor competency and installation quality throughout the project and into building maintenance.
n Promote a culture of improvement: Encourage open feedback loops and knowledge sharing among all stakeholders to continually raise standards both digitally and on-site.
Collaboration is essential The legacy of Grenfell has ushered in a new era where competency and transparency are foundational to building safety. For healthcare estates, this progression represents a valuable opportunity to deliver safer, more reliable buildings that protect staff, patients, and visitors alike.
Knauf is aiding this change by investing in robust testing of their products making information clear and easy to access via NBS and Knauf Systemfinder, through investment in workforce competency and providing supportive training partnerships and CPDs to support professionals at every stage. This collective commitment to knowledge, transparency,
and proactive collaboration will not only safeguard the healthcare estates of tomorrow but allow key professionals to confidently meet the challenges of Gateway 2, and accelerate the process.
AdobeStock / BHZshop
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
