Using Fire Engineering for Redevelopment Projects

It might seem obvious that fire engineering can be very effectively used in developing fire strategies for new projects, but it might not be so obvious that this is as applicable on a redevelopment project, but it might actually be even better placed to benefit from fire engineering.

Firstly its quite common for existing buildings not to comply with the current building regulations. Now that might not actually be a problem. It is not necessary for an existing building to be upgraded to comply with current standards (with the exception of conversions) provided the existing situation is made no worse. The new areas need to comply with current standards.

Making the new elements comply with current standards when working with an existing building obviously has its difficulties, more so compared with a new build. Were on a new build a wall may just be a couple of lines on a drawing, at least at the early stages of a project, and can easily be moved this obviously isn't the case in an existing building. The use of a fire engineering solution to justify why the new construction cannot comply due to the existing building structure can therefore be useful.

If your building is listed then its not just the difficulty of physically moving the wall (or whatever it may be that's causing the problem) but it may not be allowed to preserve the building’s heritage. The fire codes recognise the difficulties associated with upgrading and altering existing buildings and suggest the alternative fire engineering solutions may be more appropriate.

If your dealing with an existing building then there is maybe even more reason that using a fire engineer would be beneficial to the project.

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.

Fire Engineering

Fire Engineering may be a term that many of you understand, but if you don't you will probably have trouble guessing what it really is.

Fire engineering as with architecture and any other construction related discipline will be applied in different ways by different practices and individuals so this is my take on fire engineering and how it is best used. All sorts of people consider themselves fire engineers, but I am talking about professional consulting engineers, not the person that comes to wire your fire alarm or test your fire extinguishers (not that any of these are unimportant, but aren't what I would call a fire engineer).

I would hope this will also be of benefit to people who already know about fire engineering. As with any discipline, and particularly as fire engineering is a relatively young discipline, the technology and approaches are constantly evolving to produce a better building design. Knowing about these can only be of benefit to you can't they?

Adding value is something that is likely to come up a number of times in posts because that's really one of the key components of fire engineering. Very simply fire engineering is about identifying the basic code recommendations, understanding the reasons for them, and if appropriate using engineering analysis to identify and develop a more efficient solution based on a holistic assessment of fire safety standard in the proposed situation. There is an awful lot more than that but I think it will be useful to you to have an overview of the whole purpose before I start to cover more of the detail.

I want to use this blog to make people aware of what fire engineering is and the benefits that it can provide. Working in fire engineering, although I try very much to see it from others perspective will inevitably become too technical, or just too boring for someone not directly involved with the field if I am left to go on too long. If you have specific questions please ask. I find it much easier to work this way, you'll probably get more out of me this way as well. You can find me on twitter @wmarshallfire if you want to contact me, or leave a comment.