Building control consultancy

Our building control fire engineering report sets out the fire safety principles, assumptions, and proposed engineering solutions underpinning the proposed design. We provide technical evidence to explain how fire safety requirements have been addressed, including where an engineering approach is needed beyond straightforward application of prescriptive guidance.

Good fire safety drawings make the strategy tangible. We identify the provisions that make the real difference – including compartmentation, escape routes, fire-resisting construction, and protected shafts – and work collaboratively with the design team to ensure these are coordinated with the wider building rather than left as a separate fire safety exercise.

A well-structured compliance statement should explain how the design meets the regulations that apply and identify the guidance, standards, and design approach being relied upon. We bring the relevant fire safety information together into clear technical rationale that can withstand scrutiny.

For many buildings, the answer is not found neatly in a single piece of guidance. Our approach takes a look at the building as a whole – its construction, use, occupancy, and risk profile – and uses expert engineering judgment to develop a proportionate solution.

For higher-risk building work in England, Gateway Two is the point at which the Building Safety Regulator assesses the proposed work before any construction can begin. Getting the application right is a sticking point – missing information, poor coordination, or questions that have not been properly answered can result in rejection or further rounds of information, adding time and cost before work can even start.

What is approved at the design stage may change once the work starts, and it is wise to bear in mind that a seemingly small alteration can have implications for fire safety. So, we help assess proposed changes and their effect on the approved strategy. Where changes are needed, we make sure the technical reasoning is understood and recorded in the project information.

The Building Safety Regulator requires a digital ‘golden thread’ – an unbroken data trail – of building safety information to support building control applications for higher-risk properties. This documentation should enable someone to understand what is in the building, why it is there, and exactly how it is intended to keep people safe. We help capture the fire safety decisions, design information, changes, and evidence as the project develops, so the record reflects what is actually built rather than becoming a collection of disconnected documents.

Fire safety can have implications beyond the fire strategy – influencing structure, compartmentation, means of escape, and building services, for example – which is why we like to work with the wider design team from the outset of a project. This way, we can collaboratively test how the strategy will work within the building as a whole, and identify and resolve any conflicts early before they impact construction.