A SALE fire engineer has just won a prestigious national award.

Ruoxi Shi has scooped the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) UK Chapter gong for Up and Coming Fire Engineer 2020.

She works for OFR Consultants, who has promoted more than one third of its workforce in the past three months.

Speaking about her national award win, Ruoxi said: “I am thrilled to have been awarded the SFPE UK Chapter’s Up and Coming fire Engineer 2020 accolade - this is a huge testament to my dedication in promoting Fire Engineering as a career as well as promoting STEM careers for women like myself who are from an ethnical minority background.”

Director Sam Liptrott said: “Ruoxi’s outstanding award win and the promotions demonstrate our incredible growth as a business since we launched in 2015.

“ To go from an initial team of just two to almost 80 people, shows not only the demand that is out there in the construction market for our specialist skills, but also how we have developed our reputation as the pre-eminent fire engineering consultancy through our work on some of the most exciting projects, both here in the UK and overseas.”

The 80-strong OFR team operates from UK offices in Manchester, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bath, Oxford and Leeds and with a turnover exceeding £8M. Twenty-two of those colleagues have now been promoted. Four of the promotions have led to eligibility to join the OFR share ownership scheme which continues the long-term promises of the business to ensure that leadership and decision making comes from within the team.

Some of the promoted colleagues joined OFR as graduates less than five years ago, and their outstanding technical contribution to the business has accelerated their part ownership of the business.

Mr Liptrott added: “Investing in and empowering our people is core to our success. We put a heavy financial and pastoral emphasis on giving everyone opportunities and I’m delighted that, even with the challenges of 2020, this has been upheld with the promotion of these inspiring 22 colleagues.

“Our long-term plan has, and always will be, to ensure that shared ownership is viable at all levels. Not just a profit share, but genuine ownership. We recognise contribution from all our team members – from established managers to graduates – and this fits our consistent message of being a technical delivery-focussed business.”

OFR Consultants was established just five years ago, has quickly developed into an internationally renowned fire engineering consultancy working on some of the most pioneering global projects – from the Google Campus in London to the Rothera Research Station in Antarctica.

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