Fire engineers are a part of the building services engineering team for construction projects. We focus on the fire and life safety aspects of the building design with specific attention paid to the following:
Fire resistant construction
Access and egress
Fire protection services and equipment
These specialty areas are covered by specific sections of the National Construction Code (NCC) being Sections C, D and E. Each of these sections provide prescriptive measures known as Deemed to Satisfy (DtS) provisions which the design should adhere to for a building to be compliant.
This is not the only way to achieve compliance with the NCC though!
The NCC also includes a series of overarching Performance Requirements which are the principles the DtS provisions are based on. By demonstrating that a design which does not comply with the DtS provisions satisfies the relevant Performance Requirements, a design may be deemed "compliant" as a Performance Solution.
That's where fire engineers provide value to the design team.
What Does a Fire Engineer Do?
Whilst the services section of our website contains a more detailed list of we offer, the crux of what our fire engineers do stems from reviewing NCC non-compliances and creating analytical and rationalized justifications to deviate from the DtS provisions in the form of Performance Solutions.
We meet with the relevant fire authority and appointed building certifier, write Performance Based Design Briefs (PBDBs) and Fire Engineering Reports (FERs). Adelaide Fire Engineers exist to provide a seamless means for building designs to break beyond the barriers of the DtS provisions without compromising building fire safety!
Our fire engineers also work with clients responding to Building Fire Safety Committees notices issued by local Adelaide councils outlining non-compliant fire safety items to achieve an overall improvement to site fire and life safety.
Interested in exploring fire engineering options on your project? Please contact us.