The Convergence of Fire Safety, Sustainability and New Technologies: A Q&A With Dwayne Sloan

Industry trends

What major shifts do you expect in building safety, and sustainability practices by 2030, and what is driving them?

A significant shift expected by 2030 is likely the integration of safety and sustainability as a single challenge to be met by the industry rather than separate and independent goals. Currently, there is a fundamental tension where striving for sustainability outcomes can often be opposite or even detrimental to fire safety. For example, increasing insulation thickness to achieve higher R-values as required in new codes can result in the use of more combustible material that would also need to demonstrate compliance with fire performance requirements.

Driving this shift is a community demand for both fire safety and sustainability. Industries must design for both objectives simultaneously from the earliest stages of product and building development. Climate resilience is also becoming a pillar of design, requiring products to withstand increasingly volatile weather, from extreme heat to record cold, as well as wind and hail impacts. Many standards and codes related to natural perils of high wind, hail, wildfires, and extreme temperatures have been updated to keep pace with the changing climate.

How are regulatory requirements and standards evolving around the world?

There is a trend of jurisdictions around the world leveraging existing standards that have proven effective rather than developing new codes and frameworks from the ground up. A prime example is in the UAE, where they incorporated many UL Standards, NFPA installation codes, and European standards and schemes directly into their fire and life safety codes. This approach allows existing testing methods and certifications to satisfy these newer local requirements. In addition, global collaboration is increasing. For example, following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in the U.K., the International Fire Safety Standards Coalition was formed, bringing together over 80 international members to establish fundamental common fire safety principles that can be used for any regulatory system. This group is also pushing for a “World Fire Safety Day” in October 2026 to focus global attention on fire safety. 

What role will new technologies, such as AI and digital twins, play in buildings and construction by 2030?

New technologies, such as interconnectivity of products and systems, and fire safety and security devices with enhanced algorithms and even AI, will play a significant role by enhancing functionality, but also can potentially pose new safety challenges. In the built environment, efficacy of products and systems is a vital element of fire safety. For instance, today a smoke alarm’s design and algorithm must be reliable enough to distinguish between the smoke from a cooking nuisance and real room fire represented by paper, wood, smoldering polyurethane foam, or flaming polyurethane foam.  These updates to the smoke alarm and smoke detector standards serve as a precursor to what we will likely see by 2030, where more advanced algorithms can learn from their own data and adjust over time. It’s an exciting time to be at UL Solutions as we rise to these challenges as a safety organization and learn to perform risk analysis on products that are constantly changing.  

So, while algorithms, machine learning, and AI can improve system integration, earlier detection, and more reliable security, UL Solutions will continue to focus on allowing these benefits to take shape while minimizing the introduction of hazards like fire or shock.

Fire safety and building protection

How will evolving fire safety regulations and standards reshape design, specification and operations between now and 2030?

Evolving fire safety regulations and codes can be viewed in two ways. On one hand, some believe the codes and standards are changing too rapidly – not allowing manufacturers to settle into the previous code or standard editions, before they change again. On the other hand, there are some that believe that code and standards development need to move even faster to keep pace with the changing technologies and the speed of change of the industries.  

UL Solutions is dedicated to this urgent code development – for example, we are already considering 2030 because of the three-year code cycle. This evolution is urgent because the three-year code cycle means authorities must propose 2030 requirements by January 2027. Regulations are indeed evolving to keep pace with rapid innovation in materials like mass timber, advanced polymers and lithium-ion batteries.  

Another evolution is the increasing trust in model codes. Historically, many local jurisdictions took years to modify and adopt model codes, but there is now a trend toward many states and local jurisdictions adopting these model codes directly, without much modification, to save time and ensure continuity. This streamlines the path for robust regulatory frameworks that keep pace with industry needs by reducing the time spent developing localized versions.

What innovations in detection, monitoring and suppression will most significantly improve fire safety in increasingly complex buildings?

Several emerging technologies, particularly for high-risk areas like data centers, are already improving safety. The first example that comes to mind is aspirating smoke detectors (ASDs) or air sampling smoke detection systems. These are smoke detection systems that give earlier indications of the presence of smoke in high-risk areas based on their air sampling technique. Another innovation is oxygen reduction, which introduces nitrogen into unoccupied spaces to lower oxygen levels and helps mitigate the chance for fire conditions.  

On the residential side, targeted water mist systems are a major breakthrough. Unlike traditional sprinklers that drench an entire roomspace, these systems use heat signatures and imaging to sweep the area and target the fire specifically with a mist, minimizing water damage.

As you can see, each of these new developments and many more also contribute to sustainability goals of reduced fires, limited fire damage and reduced water usage.

What are the fire safety implications of mass timber, modular construction and MMC, and how could codes address them by 2030?

New materials require a delicate balance between prescriptive code language and performance-based testing. For mass timber (also called cross laminated timber (CLT), codes currently include specific stipulations, such as requiring noncombustible exteriors or limiting how much mass timber can be exposed to the interior of a building. Regarding modular construction, such as repurposed shipping containers or modular data centers, the focus is on developing safety evaluation requirements that view these units as integrated systems. The goal is to establish standards for these construction methods and materials that codes can eventually embrace, and to support modular approaches able to meet the same safety requirements as traditional construction.

What challenges arise when trying to integrate modern fire safety systems with legacy building infrastructure?

The primary challenge is the daunting task of supporting interconnection and compatibility between new technology and old systems. For example, many modern initiating devices now use cloud-based connectivity, but existing safety standards are rooted in legacy hardware. To evaluate these integrations, we must move beyond testing individual products in isolation.  

We must take a system approach, understanding how the product is designed, what it connects to and how it’s installed in a legacy environment. Without understanding those interconnecting pieces, it is difficult to build a proper safety investigation.

Building envelope and structural innovation

How is the building envelope evolving to improve thermal performance, airtightness and occupant comfort while also enhancing climate resilience?

The building envelope is becoming a multifaceted balancing act between fire safety, sustainability and building envelope science. While a building must comply with fire performance and sustainability expectations, it also must perform regarding air tightness, water penetration and thermal comfort. Without demonstrating this performance, no one would want to live, work or play in these buildings. To address this, the industry uses a three-tiered approach consisting of testing on components and materials, using performance mockups (PMU), where full-scale building sections are constructed and tested to mimic specific apartment complexes, and also field testing. These approaches collectively allow manufacturers to ensure that they are adjusting materials and assemblies that are evaluated for fire and sustainability to also achieve building performance attributes. 

What are the biggest safety implications associated with high-performance building envelopes in extreme climate conditions?

One of the significant implications is that designers must account for extreme environmental stressors, like sustained 105-degree temperatures. To make it even more challenging, they must do this while also meeting strict fire requirements.

Vegetative, or green, roofs and walls are a perfect example of this tension. While they are fantastic for sustainability and climate conditions, they must be designed from the start to pass rigorous fire tests. If a designer signs on for a multimillion-dollar green façade without considering the fire attributes of that specific vegetation and system, it may not satisfy regulatory requirements.

What are the most significant innovations in façade systems, glazing or insulation that will shape sustainable buildings through 2030?

Live vegetation, which I just mentioned, is seeing increased use. Other innovations include façades that respond to light and move with the sun. And yet another example is the use of building applied photovoltaic panels (BAPV) used on the exterior of buildings. However, many of these innovations have not yet reached the market because they have not been found compliant with the rigorous U.S. fire tests.

While cladding and other materials are often reflective, lightweight and sustainable, they can pose significant fire risks to buildings. The challenge moving towards 2030 is enabling these innovative façade designs so that they also comply with strict fire performance requirements.

Future strategy

What is the most overlooked challenge between now and 2030, and what should stakeholders be thinking about?

One challenge that may have been overlooked relates more to the experience gap in the regulatory community rather than the challenges of the innovations themselves. As seasoned building and fire officials retire, they are being replaced by a younger workforce with less experience in the field. This is happening just as building systems are becoming more complex than ever.

As a result, new code officials face steep learning curves in terms of the system approach and how to properly apply complex third-party certifications. To help close this gap and support code authorities, UL Solutions is shifting toward an education-forward approach. For example, we’re providing services like certified installer programs for fire stopping to help the people doing the work receive the training they need for success in the field.

Which emerging regulations or global policy shifts do you expect to have a big impact on the industry by 2030, and how should the industry be preparing itself to stay compliant?

A massive shift that has been underway for the last few years is the move away from high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants like freon toward more ecofriendly alternatives. However, because many of these new refrigerants can be flammable, a total overhaul of detection requirements in HVAC equipment is necessary. While this was a primary focus under previous global treaties, such as the Paris Accord, the intensity of the regulatory focus can and does shift as a result of several external factors.  

So, first and foremost, the industry must prepare by remaining agile. With that, research into gas detection should continue as we move toward lower GWP solutions, and we should strive to minimize the introduction of new safety hazards into homes and commercial spaces.

And lastly, how can industry stakeholders strengthen collaboration across the value chain — developers, OEMs, designers and operators — to deliver resilient and future-ready buildings by 2030?

True resilience requires breaking down the silos between stakeholders. Currently, manufacturers have limited direct conversations with insurance companies, fire marshals or the first responders who have to fight fires in their buildings. This communication is essential.

We need more multidisciplinary summits where manufacturers, building inspectors, first responders and other relevant stakeholders sit at the same table to discuss issues like data centers or battery energy storage systems. The goal is simple: Everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction. At UL Solutions, we’re uniquely positioned to facilitate these conversations, but they should happen on a much larger scale to help support preparedness in 2030 and beyond.