Fire Strategy

A Fire strategy is a combined report and building plan that defines the entire approach to fire safety for a given building.  It allows fire safety experts to consider how everyone could evacuate in the event of a fire.  In essence, we assume that a fire could start anywhere in the buildings and then ask the following questions:

1. Will people get a sufficiently advanced warning from the fire alarm?
2. Can people move safely away from a fire?  Or do we have to use fire resisting walls and doors to create a protected exit route?
3. Are the distances people have to travel to escape within safe limits?
4. Are there likely to be any people which need special consideration (disabled / children / large crowds)?
5. Are the occupants likely to be standing, sleeping or seated?  If seated, is this in row or some other arrangement?
6. What numbers of people can evacuate from each area and the building as a whole?
7. Do we need to ventilate certain areas like staircases to make them usable for longer?
8. Where do we need emergency lighting so that people can evacuate even if the power fails?
9. What flammability level are we allowing for the roof, external walls and internal surfaces?
10. Can the fire service get to the building easily and deploy their equipment in a quick and efficient manner?
11. To what level do we need to protect parts of buildings from structural failure?
12. Do we need to provide enhanced protection to limit damage to the building itself?
13. What other documents does the building management team need to be able to manage the fire safety?  i.e. Meeting the legal obligations under Regulation 38 of the Building Regulations.

If a Fire Strategy is the plan for how a building should be built and used.  The Fire Risk Assessment is like the building's annual service.  Checking that everything is as it should be, as it is detailed in the strategy.  A fire strategy document provides the essential foundation for carrying out a fire risk assessment. It is important to note that the fire risk assessment should be consistent with the fire strategy and must not contradict or depart from it.

People have many reasons for getting a Fire Strategy but here are the 4 most common:

Planning - Most buildings which have to go through Building Control will require a Fire Strategy.  This is to make sure that it is safe in the event of a fire.  Single family homes are generally exempt from having a Fire Strategy.  But even quite small HMO’s and all commercial premises will need one.  The requirement applies to both extensions as well as new builds.  Since extending a property can often change the exit route length or direction.

To Save money - In the fire safety sector, a huge amount of money is spent on issues identified in Fire Risk Assessments, Fire Door Surveys and Compartmentation Surveys.  These mostly always relate to fire doors not fitting correctly, or holes drilled in walls for pipes and electrical cables.  We often deal with organisations that have paid for a Fire Risk Assessment, then Compartmentation Survey,  then a Fire Door Survey, then finally paid tens of thousands of pounds to fix all the issues.  The problem is, no one stopped to ask if a particular wall or door needed to be fire resisting.

The general rule for Fire Risk Assessors is that if a door has a “Fire Door” sign on it.  It's a fire door and also the wall it’s built into is a fire resisting wall.  Even if the assessor strongly believes that the door and wall doesn’t really need to be fire resisting.  It’s out of their remit to treat it as anything other than Fire Resisting.  Since they don't know exactly why that decision was made.  And a Fire Risk Assessment is not meant to go into such detail.

However a Fire Strategy CAN reassess doors and walls, in some cases deciding that they no longer have to be fire resisting.  This is because it's done at a holistic level - the entire building is considered.  Often this can result in large sections of a building requiring neither fire doors nor fire resisting walls.  Whilst Fire Strategies aren’t cheap, fixing a single fire door can cost £500-£1000.  So sometimes, if you're looking at fixing/replacing 5 or fire doors, a Fire Strategy can often be more cost effective.

Increase Occupancy Numbers - Any room or area in a commercial building will have a limit in terms of the number of people that can safely evacuate from there.  But in some venues where hundreds or even thousands of people gather, this occupancy number can restrict the amount of customers they can serve.  We can often help by undertaking a Fire Strategy to reassess this limit.  Sometimes simply using a different technique for calculating the number can increase it.  But in others simply making some minor modifications to the fire alarm or exit route can allow an increase in numbers.

The Golden Thread - The golden thread of fire safety is the clear, accurate and up-to-date record of how a building is designed, built, managed and maintained to keep people safe from fire. It means key fire safety information, such as fire strategy, drawings, materials, compartmentation, evacuation approach and maintenance records, should be available throughout the building’s life. For higher-risk buildings, this is especially important because duty holders must be able to show that fire and structural risks are understood and properly controlled. In simple terms, it is the evidence trail that proves the building is safe, and continues to be managed safely.

Whilst all Fire Strategies follow the same structure.  The rules differ depending on the use type and complexity of the building.  Below are the main documents we can use to develop the correct Fire Strategy for your building. 

Approved Document B Volume 1 (Dwellings)

• Flats either in converted premises or purpose built blocks.
• Any other residential type building up to a maximum height of 18m.

BS 9991:2024 Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings 

This is the parent document to Volume 1 above and is used for more complex buildings or for specific scenarios which are covered in Volume 1.

Approved Document B Volume 2 (Buildings other than dwellings)

• Living accommodation for the treatment, care or maintenance of disabled people.  Or children under the age of 5.
• Short term accommodation such as hotels, boarding houses, residential colleges, hall of residence and hostels.
• Offices
• Shops and other retail premises
• Entertainment venues
• Conference/exhibition centres
• Leisure centres
• Museums
• Art galleries
• Non-residential clubs
• Theatres, cinemas and concert halls
• Gymnasiums, swimming pool and similar
• Law courts
• Churches and other buildings of worship
• Train stations, airports, bus stations and ferry ports
• Pubic toilets
• Zoos
• Industrial premises
• Storage buildings and warehouses
• Car parks

BS 9999:2017 Fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings

As above, this is the parent document to Volume 2 for more complex scenarios.

Health Technical Memorandum 05-02: Firecode

• Hospitals
• Outpatient buildings 
• Specialist clinics
• Doctors surgeries 

Building Bulletin 100: Design for fire safety in schools

• Nursery schools
• Infant Schools
• Junior Schools
• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools and Academies
• Grammar Schools
• Sixth Form Colleges
• Further Education (FE) Colleges
• Universities

1. Can I create a Fire Strategy myself?  No, you really have to be seen to be either trained, experienced or otherwise knowledgeable about Fire Safety.  Also we see Building Control often dismissing Fire Strategies just because they weren’t created by a fire safety company, such as an architect.
2. Is a Fire Strategy Report a legal requirement?  Apart from Building Control, no one will typically force you to have a Fire Strategy.  The issues arise if you have a fire and it's deemed that you should have had one due to, number of people, building size or complexity.  Not having could be seen as you not taking fire safety seriously.
3. At what stage of a construction or refurbishment project should I obtain a Fire Strategy Report?  At the same time as you appoint your architect, since they may have to make changes to the buildings design or layout to accommodate fire safety issues.  But also, if we are appointed early we maybe able to save money by offering options as to how to be compliant.
4. How long does it usually take to receive a completed Fire Strategy Report?  Typically 2-3 weeks depending on work load and the size of the building.
5. What information or documents will I need to provide before the report can be prepared?  Normally just a scaled building plan is all we need.  For some existing buildings where it isn't clear what certain rooms are used for, we can do a site visit.

Written by Simon Robinson, Fire Safety Legislation Specialist