FSA FIRECOAT has been awarded the winner of this year’s Shaping Australia Awards, taking out first place under the ‘Problem Solver’ category it has been recognised for its potential to change the lives of Australians for the better.

University of New South Wales professor Guan Yeoh and his team have developed a suite of innovative fire protection products with Flame Security International, which aim to better safeguard homes and effectively minimise exposure to fire threats.

“The paint was developed and commercialised with our industry partner Flame Security International and was partly funded via a $3 million Cooperative Research Centres Project grant from the Australian Government,” Guan says.

“It passed stringent Australian standards testing and it is proven to provide increased protection against bushfires in areas prone to extreme fire conditions.”

Since the funding, a number of UNSW professors (including specialist Guan) and a PhD team of researchers to develop products from scratch, including more to come.

In October 2023, Bunnings commenced sales of the first wave of FSI’s highly certified paints, one of which is the first ever to achieve a BAL-40 rating, the highest rating any fire-retardant paint has achieved in the world. FSI is now about to expand to The United States of America and will become a tenant at the Berkeley Space Centre.