Celebrating the legacy of Margaret Law - 50 years on

Dr Margaret Law was an outstanding fire engineer and a beloved member of our fire team.   

She was a pioneering scientist with an enquiring mind and incredible knowledge of how fires behave. For the last fifty years, her guiding principles - of technical excellence, analytical rigour and honesty - have remained at the heart of our practice, shaping the foundation for every fire safety engineer since.  

Margaret joined Arup in 1974 and was quickly involved in major projects where she challenged the very basis of existing fire regulations, going on to create innovative fire safety solutions for the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Lloyds Building in London and many others. She believed knowledge was for sharing and published her thoughts widely for anyone to understand, interrogate and implement, supporting decades of further research, testing and code development around the world.  

A book containing 29 of her most significant research papers was produced to celebrate her retirement and was reissued upon her passing in 2017. The collection spans her career from the 1950s and is a testament to Margaret's high standards, dedication to scientific understanding, technical precision, and her ability to translate principles into practical solutions through collaboration. 

From that single engineer fifty years ago, fire safety professionals in Arup now number 300 around the world, in 17 countries and 38 offices. As we reflect on Margaret Law’s legacy and influence on the fire safety engineering profession, we hope our founder’s papers will continue to serve the fire safety profession and inspire a new generation of engineers to come.