Light Science Technologies Holdings CEO Simon Deacon joined Steve Darling from Proactive to announce that the company has secured a £1.17 million contract for its Passive Fire Protection services.
Proactive: Welcome back inside our Proactive newsroom. Joining me now is Simon Deacon. He is the CEO of Light Science Technologies. And Simon, it's good to see you again. How are you?
Simon Deacon: Good to see you, Steven. I'm good. Thank you very much.
Proactive: Good stuff. Well, good to have you along, especially when you have some exciting news, announcing today a big contract for your passive fire protection services. So before we get into the contract itself, maybe let's talk about that arm of the company and the growing market that you're seeing.
Simon Deacon: Yeah, the passive fire protection division is really strong. Here in the UK we've got over 33,000 buildings which are between 11 and 18 meters high and over 11,000 buildings which are 80 meters and above where remedial work is needed. We provide fire protection by installing barriers at each floor level, horizontally or vertically, to ensure safety within the cavity of the building.
Proactive: Yeah, and that's because of the increasing regulation you're seeing, aimed at making these buildings safer?
Simon Deacon: Yes. The regulations really changed after Grenfell. We've had the Fire Safety Act and the Building Safety Act introduced. The government has also put aside over £5 billion to support these changes, with £1.1 billion already being used. It's great to see the money being utilized to make these buildings fire safe. The market for fire protection in the UK is valued at £50 billion, so it’s a significant opportunity.
Proactive: And you've just secured a new contract? A big one with a construction firm you've been working with already.
Simon Deacon: Yes, we started working with them earlier this year on two of their tower blocks in Manchester. Now, they’ve got two more blocks for us to work on. These are residential tower blocks, and instead of removing the facade, we can install our fire protection product into the building's cavity, which can last up to two hours. This solution is cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
Proactive: That's great. Two important things here: First, it's new revenue, and second, it’s repeat business. That must be encouraging.
Simon Deacon: Absolutely. Many of the companies we work with have large portfolios of buildings that need remedial work—sometimes ten, twenty, or even over 300 buildings. We estimate that the remedial work will take around 20 years to complete. Our product is the right and cost-effective solution for these projects. Our pipeline now stands at over £7 million, and we are seeing a good conversion rate as we partner with more customers.
Proactive: That’s a big number—over £1.1 million today. Exciting times ahead for sure! Simon, thanks for the update, and congratulations on the new contract. We’ll talk to you again soon.