How Fire Strategies Help Achieve Building Control Approval
What building control bodies look for in a fire strategy report, common reasons for rejection, and how to get it right first time.
29 October 20244 min readFire Safety Services
What Building Control Bodies Look for in a Fire Strategy
A fire strategy submitted for building control approval must demonstrate clearly that the proposed building meets the functional requirements of Part B of the Building Regulations. Building control bodies — whether local authority building control, registered building control approvers, or the Building Safety Regulator for higher-risk buildings — assess fire strategies against a consistent set of criteria. Understanding what they are looking for is the first step to producing a fire strategy that achieves approval first time.
Structure and Completeness
Building control bodies expect a fire strategy to be a comprehensive and self-contained document. A strategy that requires the reader to refer to other documents to understand the fire safety approach, or that contains significant gaps, will typically generate queries. A well-structured fire strategy should contain:
A clear description of the building — its use, height, number of storeys, floor areas, and occupancy
The regulatory framework against which compliance is being demonstrated — Approved Document B, BS 9991, BS 9999, or a combination
The evacuation strategy and the assumptions on which it is based
Means of escape — escape route layout, travel distances, staircase configuration, and exit widths
Fire compartmentation — compartment boundaries, fire resistance periods, fire door schedule reference
Structural fire protection — fire resistance specifications for structural elements
Fire detection and alarm — system type, category, and coverage
Suppression systems — sprinkler requirement and design basis where applicable
Smoke control — natural or mechanical ventilation strategy for escape routes
Firefighting facilities — rising mains, firefighting lifts, firefighting shafts, and fire service vehicle access
External fire spread — external wall material compliance with regulation 7(2) where applicable
The most common reason a fire strategy generates building control queries is incompleteness — missing sections, unexplained assumptions, or insufficient detail for the reviewer to assess compliance. A complete, well-structured strategy is the single most effective way to achieve approval without delays.
Common Reasons for Building Control Rejection
Fire strategies are rejected or queried by building control for a consistent set of reasons:
Travel distance failures — escape route layouts that exceed the maximum travel distances specified in the applicable code, without adequate justification or compensatory measures
Inadequate staircase provision — insufficient number or width of escape staircases for the occupancy load
Unresolved sprinkler question — failure to address whether sprinklers are required, or a sprinkler design basis that does not meet the standard applicable to the building type
External wall compliance — for buildings over 18 metres, failure to confirm that external wall materials comply with regulation 7(2) or to provide adequate fire engineering justification for any derogations
Performance-based approach without adequate justification — where the strategy departs from prescriptive requirements, the engineering justification for the departure must be clearly set out and robustly supported
Coordinating with Building Control Before Submission
For complex projects, pre-submission engagement with the building control body is strongly recommended. This allows any fundamental concerns about the fire safety approach to be identified and resolved before the formal submission, avoiding costly delays at building control stage. For Gateway 2 submissions, the BSR offers pre-application services specifically for this purpose, and taking advantage of these services is advisable for all but the most straightforward higher-risk building applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
How detailed does a fire strategy need to be for building control?
It must be sufficiently detailed for the building control body to assess compliance with Part B of the Building Regulations. For simple buildings, a relatively concise strategy may be sufficient. For complex buildings, a comprehensive technical document with supporting calculations and performance-based analysis is required.
Can I submit a fire strategy at the same time as the building control application?
Yes — the fire strategy should be submitted as part of the building control application. For higher-risk buildings, the fire strategy must be submitted to the BSR as part of the Gateway 2 application, and construction cannot commence until the application is approved.
What happens if building control rejects the fire strategy?
Building control will issue a notice identifying the deficiencies and requesting a revised submission. The developer must address the identified issues and resubmit. Where fundamental design changes are required, this can cause significant programme delays and cost.
Does the fire strategy need to be signed by the fire engineer?
A fire strategy should be clearly attributed to the fire engineer who produced it, including their name, professional qualifications, and firm. For higher-risk buildings, the BSR expects the lead fire engineer to be identified and their competence to be demonstrable.
Is a fire strategy required for a minor extension to an existing building?
For minor works that do not affect means of escape, compartmentation, or other fire safety provisions, a formal fire strategy may not be required. For any works that do affect fire safety provisions, building control will require evidence of compliance — which may be a fire strategy or a fire safety assessment depending on the scale of the works.
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