Fire Safety Engineering is the application of scientific and engineering principles, and expert judgment, based on an understanding of the effects of fire and of the reaction and behaviour of people to fire, to protect people, property and the environment from the effects of fire.

A Fire Safety Engineer is typically employed to ensure that a building design achieves the functional requirements of fire safety legislation or other fire safety objectives whilst not impacting on the architects vision. This is typically achieved by working with a Design Team throughout the RIBA Stages and developing a Fire Strategy. The Fire Strategy is used to gain approval from Building Control Bodies (BCB) and Fire & Rescue Service (FRS) and becomes the fire safety ‘blueprint’ that will be referred to through the buildings lifecycle.

Fire and smoke modelling is an important tool used in fire engineering to evaluate a performance based design or specific fire safety objectives. By using the most advanced computer modelling software, we can present a clear and substantiated case for a more creative approach to fire design.

We use both Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Zone Modelling software such as Fire Dynamic Simulator (FDS) and CFAST. This software allows us to create a three-dimensional  representation of your building and assess key parameters such as; fire spread, smoke movement, temperature, velocity and radiation to demonstrate how a fire strategy would work in practice. Theses parameters are translated into risk and assessed in terms of fire safety objectives.

Fire Risk Management is imperative to the safety of people, property and the environment. To comply with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, all commercial premises should have a Fire Risk Management Plan. A Fire Risk Management Plan should be a live document, simplistic to the end user and explain who, what and when in relation to statutory legal obligations.

PAS 7 provides a fire risk management system that can be applied in;

• Organisations that operate on multiple sites
• Separate management divisions within an organisation
• Individual premises within a single organisation

A Fire Risk Management Plan would typically include; Fire Safety Policy, Fire Risk Assessment, Fire Safety Training, Evacuation Plan and Emergency Planning.

Third party reviewing is a form of providing professional due diligence and is typically carried out in the following cases;

• Complex projects that involve numerical equations or CFD modelling.
• Where a Building Control Body or Fire Authority do not have the in-house knowledge or experience to understand a fire engineering methodology.
• Where a Design Team is uncertain about a fire consultant’s work and require a second professional opinion.
• Where a lender or surveyor is assessing a property for a acquisition and requires an accurate assessment of the fire safety standards within the property to ascertain potential financial cost with the proposed property.

As an independent fire engineering practice, we are well placed to provide third party reviewing.