Bespoke, design-stage fire strategy advice for new builds, major refurbishments and developments, industrial, commercial and residential. We help you and your design team get the fire safety principles right from concept, before they cost you at building control.
A fire strategy is the document that sets out how a building is designed to be safe: the escape routes, the compartmentation, fire service access, detection and suppression. Those decisions are made at design stage and submitted to building control to demonstrate Approved Document B compliance.
Get them wrong and the cost lands later: redesigns, programme delays, a refusal at building control, or expensive remediation once it is built. Most developers don't have fire expertise in the room at concept stage, which is exactly when it matters most.
Clear Fire brings decades of construction and fire safety experience to your project early, shaping a clear strategy with your design team and flagging honestly where a specialist fire engineer is needed.
The fire safety principles designed into the building itself, set against Approved Document B and the relevant British Standards.
Travel distances, exit capacity, protected routes and the evacuation strategy, stay put, simultaneous or phased.
Dividing the building into fire-resisting compartments to contain a fire at its source and protect the escape routes.
The fire resistance of the structure, materials and build-up, including the external wall construction.
The alarm and detection category appropriate to the building's use, occupancy and evacuation strategy.
Sprinklers or other suppression, and smoke ventilation, where the design or the regulations require them.
Access for appliances, firefighting shafts and water supplies, and the information the fire service will need.
Three situations where building control will expect a fire strategy, and where getting it right early protects your programme.
Most new commercial and multi-occupancy residential buildings need a fire strategy as part of demonstrating Approved Document B compliance to building control.
Significant alteration or a change of use can invalidate the original strategy, or require one where none existed. Building control will ask for it.
Tall residential (BS 9991:2024), large or unusual buildings, or anything needing a fire-engineered, performance-based approach (BS 7974). These need a chartered fire engineer, and we say so.
The sooner we are in the room, the cheaper the decisions. Tell us about the development, its use and where you are in design.
Means of escape, compartmentation, fire service access and the evacuation strategy, mapped to Approved Document B, BS 9999 and BS 9991.
Written so your building control body and design team can work to it, and we flag anything that needs a fire engineer.
A strategy your eventual fire risk assessment and responsible person can pick up and run once the building is in use.
Kevin was superb in responding quickly when asked to step in and replace an inadequate fire risk assessment delivered by another firm.
Tell us about the project and we'll come back within one working hour to talk through what your fire strategy needs, and whether a fire engineer should be involved.
Kevin and Jon are happy to give you a straight answer before you book, no sales pitch, just plain advice.
Speak to an owner →Tell us about your development and we'll come back to you within one working hour.
Tell us about your site. We'll respond within one working hour during business hours.