Is cultural safety the missing ingredient in building safety? Meet the CIOB Paul Dockerill Award 2025 winner

[edit] About the Paul Dockerill Award

The Paul Dockerill Award, open to anyone in the UK, provides up to £10,000 to fuel innovation, resident engagement, and an increased focus on fire safety. The award celebrates Paul Dockerill FCIOB, who passed away suddenly in November 2022. A CIOB Trustee, was a visionary and a dedicated professional in the construction and built environment industry, and the award reflects his passion for innovation in building safety through mentoring, skills development, and, most importantly, the improvement of fire safety and resident engagement in the UK.

His pioneering initiatives, notably the development with DEEO of the Twinnedit digital twin solution created following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, showcased his commitment to enhancing fire safety and building regulations. Paul was a founding member of the Housing Safety and Wellbeing Taskforce.

His legacy lives on through The Paul Dockerill Award, inspiring future innovators in the construction sector. The prestigious award is managed by the CIOB and is open to any UK resident looking to develop a research project fuelled by innovation, skills development, fire safety, and resident engagement. Paul believed that positive change could come from anyone, regardless of their background or professional affiliation, and as such the award is open to anyone with fresh and innovative ideas, CIOB members and non-members alike.

Find out more here: https://www.ciob.org/learning/scholarships/the-paul-dockerill-award

[edit] The Paul Dockerill Award winner 2025

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is proud to announce Kabbe Njie has been awarded The Paul Dockerill Award, 2025 recognising his groundbreaking work on cultural safety in the built environment.

Kabbe, from London, who works as a Principal Fire & Building Safety Engineer at Kier Group, has dedicated his career to protecting life, restoring trust, and strengthening the systems that shape homes and communities.

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, Kabbe was determined to make culture part of the safety system and designed BSM² - Building Safety Management and Method - a framework that helps organisations transform values into structure and safety into behaviour.

He has since developed a Resident Culture Code Toolkit, co-designed with residents, building safety managers, housing officers, and fire professionals. It will provide visuals, checklists, reflective questions, and a simple model to help residents and safety leaders speak the same language about safety.

Kabbe said: “Growing up in East and North London, I saw first-hand how vulnerabilities increase fire risk and have sadly felt the impact personally, having lost a cousin to fire. Cultural safety is about reforming how we think and act, not just what rules we follow. Grenfell showed that without openness, trust, and accountability, even technically compliant systems can fail."

“Cultural safety also means creating an environment where people can speak up without fear, and where professional curiosity is encouraged to challenge assumptions. As residents often tell me, they want to feel listened to as much as protected. The lesson is clear: without psychological safety and curiosity, compliance will always fall short.”

The 53-year-old entered his project to the CIOB’s The Paul Dockerill Award, a £10,000 fund to honour the legacy of a built environment sector visionary. Paul had an immense passion for building safety, skills development, and improving fire safety in the UK up until his death in November 2022.

Antonia Lanyiova, Accreditation Manager at CIOB, revealed Kabbe's project is a deserving recipient of the fund, adding: “Kabbe's project embodies Paul Dockerill's legacy by placing cultural safety at the heart of building safety.

“The CIOB is delighted to award Kabbe a significant fund towards his work, and we look forward to seeing the continued development of the Resident Culture Code Toolkit, ensuring safer and more trusted homes for everyone.

“We’re already looking forward to applications for next year’s award opening in February 2026 and I’m encouraging anyone with a proposal which drives innovation and makes a difference to the safety of our buildings to step forward and apply.”

Kabbe is the second recipient of The Paul Dockerill Award, after Dr Scott McGibbon was awarded up to £10,000 in 2024 for his project to advance awareness about the dangers of silica dust.

For more information on The Paul Dockerill Award, head to: www.ciob.me/pauldockerill

This article appears on the IOB news and blog site as "Is cultural safety the missing ingredient in building safety? Meet the CIOB Paul Dockerill Award 2025 winner" dated 24 September, 2025.

--CIOB