Making Buildings Safer from Fire

What is fire engineering?

Fire engineering applies scientific and engineering principles, industry standards, and professional expertise to safeguard people, property, and the environment from fire-related hazards.

Fire engineers are highly trained professionals with diverse backgrounds, responsible for a wide range of tasks. Their work includes fire suppression, product design, risk assessment, fire investigations, and studying fire behaviour. They play a crucial role in shaping the safety of buildings, transportation systems, and consumer products. Collaborating closely with architects, designers, scientists, legal experts, and other engineers, fire engineers ensure that fire safety measures are effectively integrated across various industries.

Why Choose Fire Engineering?

As buildings become more complex, adhering to standard fire safety guidance becomes increasingly challenging.

Fire engineering offers customised, innovative solutions to ensure safety while complying with UK building regulations and legislation. Our fire engineering services help developers, architects, contractors and responsible persons navigate these complexities, ensuring both safety and compliance, especially when standard guidelines cannot be applied.

Our Services

Fire Strategies

Tailored fire safety strategies to meet the unique requirements of complex and multi-use buildings.

Compartmentation Drawing

Detailed plans indicating the buildings lines of fire resistance to achieve effective compartmentation.

Regulatory Compliance Solutions

Engineering solutions overcoming budgetary and legislative challenges.

Risk Management

Strategic risk management for multi-site portfolios.

Fire Safety Design

Integration of fire safety systems and features into the overall building design.

RIBA stages 0-7 assurance

Affording the client significant levels of comfort that the intent at Strategic Definition through to Preparation and Brief to Concept Design is being checked and monitored followed through to Handover and Use.

Building Safety Cases

Implementation of risk controls, risk and safety assessments of the building.

Gateways of the Building Safety Act

Demonstrating that a proposed design meets safety requirements, develop and submit fire safety information plans.

When Fire Engineering is Essential

Our multidisciplinary services are most critical during the design stage of your project. Early involvement and engagement to ensure that fire safety is seamlessly integrated into the building’s framework. Fire engineering is particularly crucial for:

Multi use complex buildings
Refurbishments where standard fire safety guidance is inadequate
Higher risk buildings

It is increasingly more common to use fire engineering in occupied buildings ‘retrospectively’ to ensure the safety of people and property from fire.

It's also necessary for compliance with legislation, most notably the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Building Regulations 2010, notwithstanding the recent Building Safety Act 2022 and The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023.

Who do we help

Developers

Ensuring compliance from the ground up.

Designers and Architects

Integrating fire safety into creative and functional designs.

Tier-One Contractors

Supporting compliance and safety during construction.

Accountable Persons

Providing advice on remediation projects for the common parts of the building or maintaining any part of the common parts.

Principal Accountable Persons

In relation to occupied high-rise residential buildings ensuring that fire and structural safety is being properly managed for the whole building

Why Choose Us?

We are committed to making buildings safer from fire while helping you navigate the complexities of fire safety compliance, having a collaborative partnership with our clients and promise to deliver exceptional fire safety solutions that meet the buildings needs whilst ensuring safety and compliance without compromising integrity and functionality.

Our approach is based on the needs of the individual project we select the appropriate combination of documents based on the building type, use case, and level of risk, whether that be:

Prescriptive standards

Providing clear guidance for compliance e.g. Approved Document B (ADB) covering design strategies for means of escape, fire resistance, and fire spread or BS 9999 as a flexible alternative to ADB providing a risk-based approach to fire safety.

Performance-Based Standards

Permitting innovative, tailored solutions using performance-based design methods (e.g. BS 7974).

Operational Guidance

Fire risk assessment guides PAS 79: Fire Risk Assessment Guidance, ensuring safe building operation (e.g. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO).

What to expect from Checkmate Fire

Our aim is to provide a successful fire engineering project which balances safety, functionality, and cost while ensuring compliance and addressing the specific needs of the building and its occupants.

We can also be on hand to follow-up work and risk management to ensure that fire safety measures remain reliable throughout the building's life-cycle. This holistic approach not only meets the needs of our client but also fits within the regulatory landscape. Right from the outset we provide a clear scope of work, define the applicable fire safety regulations and standards and outline the objectives to meet the project deadlines.

Collaborate with Checkmate Fire

If you would like more information on how our team of experienced fire safety experts can help support you throughout these processes, please contact us via: enquiries@checkmatefire.com or 0330 124 7650 or complete the form below.

FIRE STRATEGY & ENGINEERING SERVICE

30+ YEARS

Nationwide

Fully certified