Fire engineering, UK wide
Fire Strategy
A fire strategy is the master plan for how a building is designed, built and managed to be safe from fire. It is the thinking behind every fire safety decision, from escape routes and compartmentation to alarms, smoke control and fire service access. AL23 Safety produces clear, building specific fire strategies across the UK, backed by in-house fire engineering.
What is a fire strategy?
Fire safety as a single, joined up system
A fire strategy sets out how a building achieves fire safety as a single, joined up system. It explains why each measure is there and how the active and passive fire protection, the evacuation approach and the management arrangements all work together.
It lives with the building
Created at the design stage and updated whenever the building changes. Every strategy is specific to the building, its use and its occupants and it becomes the foundation for everything that follows, including your fire risk assessment.
Strategy or risk assessment?
The most common point of confusion
Fire strategy
Created when a building is designed, refurbished or changed. It sets the standard for how the building should be safe.
Fire risk assessment
The legal requirement for occupied premises. It looks at how the building is actually being managed today against that intended standard.
The strategy says what should be there. The assessment checks that it is there, that it works and that it still suits how the building is used. You may well need both.
When you need one
Five times a strategy is called for
New buildings
The key document submitted to Building Control to show the design meets fire safety regulations.
Major refurbishment
Moving walls, changing escape routes or altering the layout changes the original strategy.
Change of use
Turning an office into flats or a shop into a restaurant changes the risks completely.
Complex buildings
Large, unusual or higher risk buildings often need a fire engineered solution rather than a standard one.
Retrospectively
Where an existing building has lost or never had a strategy, one can be developed to document and justify its fire safety.
Regulation 38 requires fire safety information, normally the fire strategy, to be handed to the Responsible Person by the time the building is completed or occupied. If it was never provided, one can be produced retrospectively.
How we develop your strategy
Three routes to a compliant building
There is more than one route and choosing the right one can save significant time and cost. We use the approach that genuinely fits your project.
Approved Document B
The standard, code based guidance. Follow it and your design is generally accepted as compliant. It suits simpler, common building types.
BS 9999 and BS 9991
More flexible, risk based standards for larger or more complex buildings. BS 9999:2017 covers non residential, BS 9991:2024 covers residential. They allow sensible trade offs a rigid code cannot.
Fire engineering to BS 7974
A full, first principles engineering approach for the most complex or unusual buildings, where no standard code fits. Using analysis and modelling to design a bespoke, defensible solution.
Our in house specialismWhat it covers
Everything that keeps the building safe, in one document
A full fire strategy typically addresses:
- A full description of the building, its construction, layout, use and occupants
- The means of escape, travel distances, exit widths, lighting and signage
- The compartmentation and structural fire resistance
- The fire detection and alarm system
- Smoke control and ventilation
- Firefighting provisions and fire service access
- The evacuation strategy, simultaneous, phased, progressive horizontal or stay put
- The management arrangements needed to keep it all effective
Throughout, the strategy demonstrates how the building meets the fire safety objectives of the Building Regulations, from means of warning and escape to internal and external fire spread, structural protection and access for the fire service.
Retrospective fire strategies
Many existing buildings have no usable fire strategy, whether because they pre date modern regulations, were altered without one or simply lost the paperwork. A retrospective strategy reviews the building as it stands, documents how it manages fire risk and sets out where it falls short of current expectations. It gives owners and duty holders a clear, defensible position, which matters more than ever for older and higher risk residential buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022.
Why AL23 Safety
Our most technical service, engineered not just applied
A fire strategy is only as strong as the expertise behind it and this is the most technical fire safety service of all. Because we have in-house fire engineering capability, we can do far more than apply a code. We can engineer a solution for a genuinely complex building and justify it to Building Control and the fire service.
We work alongside architects, developers, principal designers and building owners from the earliest design stage and we write strategies that are practical, proportionate and clear, not just compliant on paper. We deliver right across the UK, on projects of every size.
Talk to us about your fire strategy
Designing, changing or filling a gap
Whether you are designing a new building, changing an existing one or need a strategy produced retrospectively, we can help. Get in touch and we will work out exactly what your project needs.
Common questions
Answers, up front
Cannot see your question? Get in touch and we will answer it directly.
Contact usA fire risk assessment looks at an existing building and the measures needed to manage fire risk in it day to day. A fire strategy sets out how fire safety is designed into a building as a whole, which matters most for new build, refurbishment and complex projects.
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