On the 16th of May 1968, the catastrophic disaster of Ronan Point occurred, a 22-storey building, collapsed down one side due to a gas explosion and poorly designed building structure; killing 4 people and injuring 17. This tragic and shocking event brought huge attention to the vital need for competency and safety standards to be benchmarked in all sectors of building regulation – particularly gas safety.

CORGI was founded in response to the disaster to actively prevent disasters of any scope happening again. CORGI Registration was voluntary, and the beginning of the introduction to long-needed regulation.

Mandatory registration introduced national gas safety standards and kickstarted the need to comply to safety precautions and processes.

Under gas safety Installation and use regulations, CORGI registered gas installation businesses reach over 50,000 with 100,000 gas operatives regulated through CORGI.

By donating commercial income to the trust, CORGI invested heavily into schemes to bring attention to the dangers of Carbon Monoxide poisoning, advising to always use CORGI registered installers to prevent disasters, bringing increased awareness to the British public through a national television campaign and more.

Following the tragic incident in Greece in 2006 where the lives of 2 children were sadly lost due to unsafe gas appliances, CORGI worked with tour operators and ABTA to raise standards internationally and this work continues today with advice and international gas safety audits.

Gas Safe becomes the new regulator and CORGI is restructured. CORGI Technical Services brings an even higher level of safety and quality to auditing, training and consultancy.

CORGI creates the gas safety management in social housing & Facilities Management qualification, dedicated to excellence in gas safety management

The Association of Gas Safety Managers is launched to bring a new component to CORGI Technical Services for Gas Managers to continue raising standards in the industry as well as allowing national networking, cohesion in sharing best practice and providing a voice for the social housing & facilities management sector.

CORGI and the AGSM launches the first national conference to formerly bring together members of the association and other involved delegates in the gas safety industry to encourage progression and to administer change where necessary; acting as a driving force in the industry to improve safety standards and bring about Innovation of procedure and the practice of gas safety.

With the AGSM conference now being an annual event, the First Gas Safety Awards is held to recognise the significant contributions made to the social housing sector. Giving opportunity to reflect on the progress we as an industry have made whilst encouraging innovation. The first edition of the Ignite! magazine Is launched and is the starting point to becoming a well-known industry publication for gas safety news, used to highlight the significant changes in the industry to bring more awareness of progress. Also including what is covered by speakers of the annual AGSM conferences.

Qualifications are launched for frontline staff and tenants in social housing, increasing gas safety awareness across the sector.

CORGI extends its wealth of safety knowledge into electrical safety management, supporting development of Association of Electrical Safety Managers (AESM) and launching the Electrical safety management in social housing qualification, raising standards of competency in the electrical sector.

Women In Gas (WIG) launches to support women in social housing and facilities management. Giving women the opportunity to receive mentoring from one another and through its own mentoring scheme, share knowledge of their sector and profession to others and is a group to motivate, support and provide advise

Following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower in June 2017, CORGI was selected by the Metropolitan Police to investigate whether any potential gas safety issues had contributed to the devastating fire that killed 71 residents.

CORGI Technical Services along with the AGSM change legislation, changing Regulation 36A, providing social housing providers with a much more efficient way of carrying out safety checks using a MOT-style model of safety check and giving a safer and more efficiently structured timeframe for when safety checks are carried out. This could not have been achieved without the dedication of the members of the AGSM and campaign working together to make a measurable and demonstrable difference to the social housing sector and gas safety industry. The AGSM’s and CORGI pushing the boundaries of gas safety and collaborating with key stakeholders

CORGI and the Association’s biggest conference so far; ASCP 2019. Having an increased focus on the recently introduced Association, the ASCP, which incorporates both the AGSM and the AESM to recognise the overall aim of reinventing the expectations of Safety & Compliance in social housing. Working on a larger collaborative scale to tackle the big issues in the industry which will subsequently work hand in hand for any sector in safety from gas to asbestos.

Fast approaching the half century mark in which CORGI has been active and contributing to the evolution of the industry, the pace of expansion and progression will only increase as the momentum of the associations support, the training and services offered and the dedication to improve from the CORGI Team continues.