What a fire strategy is
A fire strategy sets out the fire safety basis of a building’s design. It explains the approach taken to each part of the Building Regulations’ fire safety requirements, the guidance the design follows, and how the pieces fit together, so an architect, a building control body and a future owner can all see how the building is meant to work in a fire.
It is written early and developed with the design, not added at the end. Decisions about stair widths, travel distances and compartment lines are far cheaper to settle on a drawing than on site.
When you need a fire strategy
Building control will expect to see how a design meets Part B of the Building Regulations on most projects of any size, and a fire strategy is the clearest way to show it. It is usually needed for:
- New commercial, residential and mixed-use buildings
- Extensions and significant alterations
- Material changes of use
- Refurbishments that change escape routes or compartmentation
Higher-risk residential buildings
A planning application for a building of 18 metres or more, or seven or more storeys, that contains two or more homes or student accommodation must also include a fire statement under Planning Gateway One. The fire strategy and the fire statement need to tell the same story.
What our fire strategies cover
Every strategy is written for the building in front of us, but most cover:
- Means of escape The evacuation approach, escape routes, travel distances, stairs and provision for people who need help to leave.
- Containing fire and smoke Compartmentation, fire resistance of the structure and how penetrations through fire-resisting construction are to be protected.
- Active systems Fire detection and alarm, emergency lighting and, where relevant, sprinklers and smoke control.
- External fire spread The approach to external walls and the separation between buildings.
- The fire service Vehicle access, firefighting shafts, dry or wet risers and the information firefighters need on arrival.
From design to occupation
A fire strategy does not stop mattering at completion. For most buildings, Regulation 38 of the Building Regulations 2010 requires the person carrying out the work to hand fire safety information to the responsible person for the finished building, so it can be operated and maintained safely, and higher-risk buildings carry further handover duties under the Building Safety Act 2022. A clear strategy is the backbone of that information.
Once the building is occupied, the strategy feeds straight into its fire risk assessment and its fire safety plan, and it sets out the compartmentation that the building’s passive fire protection has to maintain. Because we work across all of these, the design intent does not get lost between the design team and the people who run the building.
Bring fire safety in early
Tell us about the project, the stage it has reached and what building control has asked for, and we will tell you what the fire strategy needs to cover and how we would approach it. Call us, send a message or drop us an email, and we will come back to you, usually the same working day.