Specialist Fire Engineering

Our engineers are experienced in all aspects of fire engineering and have a further solid understanding the testing and application of passive fire protection products. This has been gained through both practical experiences managing fire resistance test laboratories, conducting fire resistance tests and from working closely with, and for, passive fire product manufactures within industry. 

Our knowledge base provides Ashton Fire with the expertise to impartially review and comment on designs both on plan and installed. Where evidence has been presented to demonstrate performance of passive fire products, Ashton Fire also has the expertise to review fire test/assessment reports in order to assist in understanding whether they are appropriate and cover the required design, or not. If not, then we can offer our professional opinion as to what the next steps to providing approvals may be and how that may be achieved. In some cases, we may be in a position to prepare appropriate engineering judgements/technical assessments to cover the gaps in provided test evidence. 

Article 18 of the Fire Safety Order requires the responsible person to appoint one or more competent persons to assist them in undertaking the preventive and protective measures and to advise on the fire safety arrangements i.e. guidance on the fire safety measures required by the legislation and how they should be implemented.

Where a responsible person does not have sufficient competence to comply with their statutory duties they should appoint a competent person to assist them.

Not every company has the need or resources for their own in-house fire safety adviser, therefore, fire safety advice may be provided by an external consultancy service providing they are competent to do so and have a sound knowledge of fire safety requirements in applicable premises.

Ashton Fire can support organisations with providing competent advice on fire related issues.

• We work directly with the Responsible Person, together with other relevant parties engaged by them, to provide expert advice on fire safety management issues in the buildings the Responsible Person manages to ensure agreement and consistency in approach to fire related matters.
• We offer advice on the systems that need to be put in place to effectively manage fire safety within the building.
• Conduct reviews of 3rd party fire risk assessments and challenge the findings where there are concerns or the findings are disputed by the Responsible Person.
• Act as the single point of contact for matters relating to fire safety.
• Attend scheduled meetings to discuss issues arising, status of work and provide updates.
• Ad hoc attendance at meetings relating to fire safety, where required, by the Responsible Person.

Structural fire engineering is the sub-field of fire safety engineering associated with analysing how a structure is likely to perform when exposed to a fire and/ or its effects, as well as assisting with the specification and design of the fire protection products to the structure. Ashton Fire have a specialised team who all have a background and education in structural engineering and experience of structural fire engineering. This allows us to offer a full suite of services to our clients for any project we bid on, in addition to our other specialist service offerings, such as fire and smoke modelling and evacuation modelling; in other words, we can offer a full turnkey package when approaching any project.

Ashton Fire’s team has detailed knowledge of automatic fire suppression systems in terms of how they work and what is required in order to follow the relevant code of practice (e.g., BS 9251; BS EN 12845; BS EN 16925; NFPA 13, etc.). We commonly support clients where unique and specialised automatic fire suppression systems have been specified in terms of helping to provide early advice before the appointment of the specialist sub-contractor. This can ultimately save time and money for our clients given that enhanced advice is provided early, providing more surety around the likely space and volume requirement associated with the suppression system. This also extends to more specialist systems such as deluge and gaseous suppression systems, where Ashton Fire’s suppression team have knowledge and experience also.

Ashton Fire’s team have experienced providing fire safety advice to various clients in the BESS sector and the fire and explosions risks associated with these. Ashton Fire approaches the problem from a first principles perspective and often ‘tests’ the design of the site against the actual fire hazards that are likely to manifest rather than relying solely on very crude guidance recommendations. This can lead to both a more efficient and safer design, as it has been assessed in multiple ways.

Fire engineering in high-hazard industries often pose different and unique risks compared to the built environment and with a larger focus around loss prevention and property protection. Ashton Fire have a large amount of experience of supporting clients in these sectors and helping with problem solving around fire protection matters, especially where bespoke solutions are required. In addition, our team has a basic grasp of blast risks as well as DSEAR requirements, which can often help in the early design phases before specialist consultants are appointed for these fields.