Fire Strategies
Fire Strategies are essential for establishing a structured approach to fire prevention, containment, and safe evacuation, ensuring that buildings are equipped to manage fire risks effectively.
A fire strategy is the document that ties everything else together. It defines how a building is designed or managed to prevent fire, limit its spread, protect occupants, and enable safe evacuation. Without a sound fire strategy, everything that comes after it is built on uncertain ground.
IntegriFire develops fire strategies for higher-risk residential buildings at all stages from design and planning through to post-occupancy review. Our strategies are aligned to Approved Document B, BS 9991, BS 9999, and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and are written to serve a practical purpose, not just to satisfy a gateway condition.
Pre-Occupancy Fire Strategy
Before a building is occupied, the fire strategy sets out how fire safety has been designed into the fabric and systems of the building. This covers:
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Compartmentation and structural fire protection how the building is divided to contain fire and limit spread
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Means of escape routes, widths, travel distances, and protected staircase design
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Detection and suppression fire alarm systems, sprinkler provision, and smoke control
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Compliance with planning and building control ensuring the strategy satisfies Gateway 2 and Gateway 3 requirements under the Building Safety Act 2022
Post-Occupancy Fire Strategy
Once a building is occupied, the fire strategy does not sit in a drawer. It needs to be actively managed, reviewed when the building changes, and used as the reference point for ongoing fire safety decisions. This includes:
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Regular review against the current state of the building occupancy changes, refurbishments, change of use
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Alignment with the fire risk assessment and the Building Safety Case
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Updating evacuation procedures and emergency plans in response to changes in occupant profile
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Ensuring fire safety systems are maintained in accordance with the strategy requirements
Technically sound
Strategies aligned to ADB, BS 9991, and BS 9999, not boilerplate documents with the building name changed.
Gateway-ready
Pre-occupancy strategies developed with Gateway 2 and Gateway 3 requirements in mind, reducing the risk of delay at the point of registration.
Lifecycle thinking
A strategy that accounts for how the building will be used and managed over time not just how it looks on paper at handover.
Integrated with your Safety Case
Where a Building Safety Case is also required, the fire strategy is produced as part of an integrated approach not as a standalone document that conflicts with the wider safety case narrative.
If you need a pre or post occupancy fire strategy or a review of an existing strategy for an occupied building, contact us to discuss the scope.
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