Fire engineering is a relatively new discipline developed principally as a reaction to the developing trends in building technology. Traditionally, fire safety in buildings has been achieved by reference to prescriptive building standards and codes of practice. However, as buildings are becoming more complex, larger and taller and populated with different types and abilities of users, traditional designs have become restrictive and inappropriate in their application often constraining the original vision.
Performance based fire safety engineering perceives fire safety more laterally to identify areas that will fulfil the purpose of ensuring life safety but can also be used to aid in property protection and business continuity issues. Fire engineering is used to evaluate a perceived problem; identifying actual risks and creating an integrated package of measures to offset, remove or reduce the risk to an acceptable level. Only by evaluating and quantifying risk can commensurate protective measures be designed and implemented.
Omega Fires approach is to develop bespoke fire engineering solutions which deliver fire safety strategies not only to achieve an acceptable level of safety but also provides architectural freedom, cost savings and added design value. This is achieved by investigating and incorporating inherent design features of a scheme supported by fire precaution measures that will substantially contribute towards an optimum designed scheme.
Omega Fire also offer a third-party review service. This can include compliance assessment of prepared plans and drawings and/or the review of proposed performance-based designs to ensure the designs are appropriate and which, in the best interest of the clients, may then identify any potential alternatives that will provide a more beneficial solution.