Who benefits from Fire Engineering

So before I start on the detail of what the actual fire engineering involves it's always useful to know how it's going to be of benefit. In short its of benefit to everyone. Now I am sure that's exactly what everyone else says and it would make me really skeptical if someone told me that. So what I will do is quite briefly described the benefits for some of the main parties involved with the design, construction and use of buildings. Obviously the benefits will be dependent on the particular fire engineering element employed on the building, but hopefully you get the idea.

Developer
Fire engineering solutions often result in a more efficient building design. To the developer this means either gaining lettable area or it means the omission of a costly item such as an additional stair core. For instance, reducing the structural fire resistance period of a building would not increase the available space but would reduce the construction cost. Ultimately this means that the development becomes more profitable to the developer.

Architect
The architect will benefit from the efficiencies in the net to gross ratio which can be improved upon by for example demonstrating three stair cores are sufficient where four might other wise be needed.

The other aspect of fire engineering is allowing the architect to do their job and design a building that is a nice place to be and look at. Introducing an atrium, but not enclosing it in fire rated construction is a common example in commercial buildings which can often require fire engineering input. Allowing open balconies in schools with open voids connecting levels is something that has become very common over the last few years. Without fire engineering these options may not be available to the architect and could lead to a less enjoyable or interesting building.

End User
Everyone knows about the inconvenience caused by false alarms. By introducing phased evacuation and investigation periods into a buildings cause and effect these can be significantly reduced. Not only does this reduce inconvenience to the individual it also reduces productivity or customer loss through unnecessary evacuations to the business.

The fire engineering solutions developed for the benefit of the architect in making the space a better environment such as open balconies and glazed or open atria are really for the benefit of the end user and they will be able to enjoy these features for much longer than the design team or contractor will. After all it is these people that the building is being built for.

Environment
Environmental benefits aren't always directly considered as the outcome of fire engineering solutions but I strongly believe they should be. By improving the efficiency of any building, improving the nett to gross, reducing the level of compartmantation, reducing stair widths etc will result in less raw materials being needed to provide the same floor area in a less efficient building. The environmental benefits are very rarely the sole reason for selecting a fire engineering solution but are quite commonly a benefit. I believe as we move towards greater environmental awareness fire engineering has a part to play in helping achieve reduced environmental impact.


Hopefully the short list above makes it clear that using fire engineering is really in everyone's benefit. Don't get me wrong not every single fire engineering solution will benefit all of the designers, contractors and users. But every fire engineering solution should benefit at least one of them and that benefit should out weight the disadvantages to the other groups. It is of course still possible to develop a fire engineering solution that is of very limited benefit but places a large burden on others. Avoiding these are what makes a good fire engineering consultant, but that's another topic entirely.