Plain-English definition
What is a fire strategy?
A fire strategy is the coherent account of how fire safety is intended to work in a building. It typically joins together prevention, detection and warning, escape, compartmentation, smoke control, firefighting facilities, fire-service access and the management arrangements needed to support them.
There is no single statutory definition and no universal requirement for every building to possess a document titled “fire strategy”. The need and level of detail depend on the building, work being undertaken, approval route and complexity.
Triggers and scope
When is a fire strategy required or advisable?
A strategy is commonly produced for a new building, extension, material alteration, change of use or complex fire-engineered design. Building-control and design teams may require it to demonstrate how the proposals satisfy the functional requirements of the Building Regulations.
For relevant building work, Regulation 38 requires fire-safety information to be given to the responsible person by completion or occupation. Existing complex buildings can also benefit from a retrospective strategy where the original design basis is missing, fragmented or no longer matches the use.
- New construction or major refurbishment
- Change of use, occupancy profile or evacuation approach
- Complex, high-rise, mixed-use or fire-engineered buildings
- Alterations affecting escape, compartmentation, façades or fire systems
- Missing or contradictory design and handover information
Coordinated information
What should a useful fire strategy contain?
Scope should be tailored to the premises. A small conventional building may need a concise record; a complex building may need drawings, calculations, cause-and-effect information and specialist analysis.
Building and occupants
Use, height, layout, occupancy, vulnerable people and assumptions.
Escape strategy
Evacuation method, escape capacity, travel, exits, refuges and assistance.
Passive protection
Compartmentation, fire resistance, doors, cavity barriers and fire stopping.
Active systems
Alarm, emergency lighting, sprinklers, smoke control and system interactions.
Firefighting access
Access, shafts, lifts, risers, water supplies and information for responders.
Management
Testing, maintenance, staffing, impairments, emergency procedures and review.
Different jobs
Fire strategy vs fire risk assessment vs evacuation plan
These documents overlap but answer different questions. They should cross-reference one another rather than repeat conflicting assumptions.
| Document | Primary question | Typical focus |
|---|---|---|
| Fire strategy | How is the building intended to achieve fire safety? | Design principles, systems, evacuation and management working together |
| Fire risk assessment | What are the current risks and are precautions suitable? | Actual premises, people, hazards, controls, findings and actions |
| Emergency plan | What should people do if fire occurs? | Alarm response, evacuation roles, assistance, assembly and calling the fire service |
Commissioning support
How to commission and maintain a fire strategy
Choose competence appropriate to the building and the work. Confirm whether the appointment covers an outline strategy, developed design, retrospective review, fire-engineered analysis, drawings and liaison with building control.
Keep the approved information with the building record. Proposed changes should be checked against its assumptions, and the strategy, FRA and emergency plan should be reviewed together after material change.
- Define purpose, approval stage and deliverables
- Supply drawings, existing approvals, calculations and system information
- Record assumptions, limitations and departures from standard guidance
- Resolve interfaces between designers, contractors and building management
- Control revisions and hand over the current version to the responsible person