BLOG: How Ingenuity Keeps Us By Your Side

In a recent blog, we explored how insight forms the first core principle of our ‘By Your Side’ principle and what it means in practice. Through genuine engagement with our customers and active involvement in the wider industry, we gain a deep and nuanced understanding of individual projects and broader challenges facing the sector. This insight is a vital element in our commitment to being By Your Side, not just because of the valuable knowledge it provides in and of itself, but also because it informs the second core principle of this initiative: ingenuity. 

What ingenuity means to Siderise   

Ingenuity means putting our insights into action — turning the knowledge we gain from working alongside designers and fire engineers from all over the world into practical and compliant solutions. With ever-tightening regulations and new architectural tastes and technologies emerging all the time, there are always new challenges for the construction industry to face. To ensure we continue to support the industry and deliver what our customers need, we must develop with it.  

We are constantly seeking new ways to innovate – whether it’s delivering improved products to meet new regulatory demands, addressing wider industry issues or making life easier for our customers through tools, training and services. This is how we stand By Your Side, helping you to solve problems before they arise, embrace new technologies as they are developed and achieve your project vision and create safe, beautiful buildings for all. This is demonstrated across our business in areas including: 

1. Product innovation and rigorous testing 

When you think about ingenuity, the first thought is product development. For 50 years, we have been developing passive fire solutions and products for all kinds of buildings and facade types. 

Our products, both newly developed and existing, are then put through rigorous in-house and third-party testing to ensure they perform as we expect and as necessary. We will talk in more detail about product testing in our forthcoming blog on integrity.  

We share all this technical product data, third-party test results and accreditation, information and drawings on installation and configurations and more on our website, making sure everything you might need is easy to access, wherever you are working from. 

2.  Investment in technical expertise

We would not be able to pursue our proactive approach to R&D without the creativity and skill of our large technical team. Technical excellence is a vital part of our product development and services. Our 19-person technical team makes up over 10% of our total staff — a significant amount in a company of our size! By employing the best technical people in the industry, we can be confident that we can find the right solutions for our customers. Through the collaborative approach we explained in the insight blog, we can form an extension of your project team from the earliest design stage. This allows us to spot issues and find answers before work beings on site, saving time and money and ultimately ensuring a safer approach to construction.  

3. New training and tools to support the industry

We know that clear, accessible information and support is key to helping any project run smoothly. As discussed in our last blog, we are always seeing ways to share the technical knowledge we have gained over the years with the wider industry. This is done through offerings such as CPDs, our bitesize Tea & Technical talks, and onsite and remote installation training (which was certified under the internationally recognised standard ISO 29993:2017 in 2020!). These are all regularly peer reviewed and updated to ensure they are up-to-date, useful, and engaging. 

However, one of the biggest and most exciting innovations we have had in terms of service tools is our Inspection App. Quality of construction is a hugely important topic which has come under new scrutiny in recent years. Available from the Apple Store and Google Play, the app provides a simple way to record the progress and quality of installation, carry out audits, and identify and address any issues. It also offers a visual record of hidden elements of a construction once the build is complete for owners and operators throughout the lifetime of the building. We saw a notable increase in downloads during the Coronavirus pandemic, as it provided a safe, easy, and quick way to interact with our team and further updates and functionality are planned, so watch this space!  

Innovating the future 

Ingenuity and innovation are fundamental to the Siderise offer. It has underpinned our commitment to helping develop safer buildings since we began 50 years ago and has helped us to become a global leader in passive fire solutions for the building envelope.  

In a forthcoming blog, we will explore how our insight and ingenuity are put into practice with integrity.