Fire Engineering

DS Fire provides independent fire engineering consultancy services using a performance-based approach aligned with BS 7974 and its Published Documents. We apply engineering principles, analysis, and professional judgement to deliver fire safety solutions for complex, constrained, and non-standard buildings.

Where prescriptive guidance cannot be fully achieved, we develop robust, proportionate engineering justifications to demonstrate an appropriate level of life safety, property protection, and resilience. Our services include fire and evacuation modelling, means of escape analysis, structural fire engineering, smoke control assessment, and evaluation of active and passive fire protection systems for both new and existing buildings.

Fire Engineering vs Fire Strategy

Fire Strategy

A Fire Strategy sets out the overall fire safety philosophy for a building. It defines how fire risks are managed through layout, construction, systems, and management procedures, and is typically used to demonstrate compliance with legislation and guidance such as the Building Regulations.

Fire strategies may be prescriptive, semi-prescriptive, or supported by engineering input, and are often produced for both new-build and existing buildings.

Fire Engineering

Fire Engineering applies engineering analysis and performance-based methods to assess fire safety where standard guidance is not fully applicable or achievable. This approach is commonly used for complex buildings, innovative designs, existing structures, or change-of-use projects.

Fire engineering involves qualitative and quantitative assessment, such as modelling, calculations, and scenario analysis, to demonstrate that proposed measures achieve an equivalent or improved level of safety compared with prescriptive benchmarks.

At DS Fire, fire engineering is used to support and enhance fire strategies, providing clear technical justification where departures from guidance are required.