Fire Safety Engineering

01CFD fire & smoke modelling

Prescriptive codes don’t fit every geometry. Atriums, multi-storey voids and complex escape routes fall outside what a rulebook covers, and that is where performance-based design, backed by CFD, becomes the evidence a project needs. We define the design fire, build the model in FDS, test it for mesh sensitivity and assess the results against tenability criteria.

What we offer

• Design fire definition and scenario matrix
• FDS modelling with Smokeview visualisation
• Mesh sensitivity and tenability / ASET–RSET assessment
• Atrium, corridor, basement and car park smoke modelling
• Jet fan placement, pressurisation verification and CFD peer review

02Sprinkler & passive fire protection

Sprinklers and passive protection — compartmentation, fire stopping, fire-rated doors and structural protection — work together to contain a fire and slow its spread. We size and lay out sprinkler systems and specify passive measures so the two are coordinated with each other and with the escape strategy.

What we offer

• Sprinkler design and hydraulic calculations (BS EN 12845, BS 9251; NFPA-based internationally)
• Passive protection specification: compartmentation, fire stopping, fire-rated construction
• Coordination between active and passive measures
• Review of architectural and building services drawings

03Means of escape & fire strategy

Escape routes and travel distances have to reflect how the building is actually used. We calculate them against Approved Document B, BS 9999 or BS 9991, assess fire risk for new and existing buildings, and write the fire strategy that ties every measure into one coherent document.

What we offer

• Means of escape and travel distance calculations
• Fire engineering input to planning and building control submissions
• Fire risk assessment for new and existing buildings
• Fire strategy reports

04Gateway 2 evidence packs

Higher-Risk Buildings in the UK cannot start construction until Gateway 2 approval is granted by the Building Safety Regulator. That approval turns on regulator-ready documentation: design fire and justification, scenario matrix, boundary conditions, mesh sensitivity, tenability criteria and the supporting fire strategy, assembled as one defensible evidence pack.

Fire protection we deliver through other services

Some fire scope sits on our seismic pages, because the engineering does.

How we work

Acrefine’s role is the technical analysis, modelling and documentation. Final fire strategy sign-off rests with the project’s appointed fire engineer holding the competency the project requires — in the UK, chartered status and, where applicable, the HRB Competency Register. Our work makes that engineer’s process faster and better evidenced; it does not substitute for it.