Specifiers Journal 2015-2016

Cost versus Value
There is often a temptation to cut costs when
specifying the level of fire protection in a new
construction project but does this offer value?
Any building design will start with a
client vision from which the architect,
structural engineer and, increasingly,
the fire engineer will need to convert
the client’s aspirations into a practical
and functional design that can be
constructed within the client’s budget.
Long gone are the days when
a designer was shackled by the
constraints of prescriptive fire codes,
leaving today’s fire engineer free to
model alternative solutions that will
satisfy the relevant national building
codes.
So far so good, but there are two
fundamental questions that need to
be considered when addressing a
client’s brief in relation to the required
fire strategy, and these are:
• Is the objective to protect people
from a fire within the building
and allow adequate time to
escape, or
• To protect the building and its
contents from a fire?
In reality the two approaches may
result in very different fire safety
solutions. If protecting the building
itself from fire is not seen as a
concern, then it can be designed to
meet the minimum building codes
required to ensure safe evacuation.
This will result in the protection being
cut to minimum levels, resulting in a
smaller fire protection bill.
But if the whole life of the building is
taken into account, does this actually
offer value? Designing to protect the
building and ensure safe evacuation
may cost a little more at the outset
but could determine whether, post
fire, there is a building/business to
return to at all.
Developing a fire strategy
First and foremost, the client needs to
be clear in terms of how he wishes
his building to perform in a fire. This
requires the building designer to ask a
number of critical questions about key
aspects of the client’s business needs,
since this will impact on the fire
strategy. For example, if the business
is to survive:
• What is the maximum acceptable
damage value?
• Should any fire be contained
within a defined compartment
area?
Any building design will start with a client vision. Credit: Shutterstock/Mmaxer
98 SPECIFICATION JOURNAL 2015-2016