In the built environment, the term ‘compliance’ often evokes a sense of comfort and finality. A project meets code, receives its certificate, and is deemed complete. For too long, fire life safety has been relegated to this final checkbox, a technical requirement to be satisfied, rather than the foundational pillar of building performance that it truly is.
The tragic events at Grenfell Tower served as a reality check, shattering complacency and exposing the profound limitations of a siloed, compliance-only approach. It forced a necessary reckoning, pushing the entire property industry to ask a critical question: are we designing and delivering buildings that are genuinely safe, or merely ones that are designed to pass an inspection?
The Non-negotiable Foundation
At AESG, we believe that fire and life safety is the non-negotiable foundation upon which all other building performance metrics—sustainability, energy efficiency, wellness, and resilience—must be built. As highlighted in The Warren Centre’s Fire Safety Engineering Competencies Report, the “serious consequences of fire demand a level of professionalism and seriousness for public confidence.”
This isn’t just a technicality; it’s a professional and moral imperative. The assumption that safety systems will work cannot be taken for granted; their efficacy must be continually tested and validated through a rigorous, “trust but verify” approach
The Invisible Shield: Seeing Fire and Life Safety as an Integrated System
For the typical building occupant, world-class fire and life safety is invisible. It is the embedded technology of the built environment, much like the intricate circuitry within a smartphone. You don’t see the complex interplay of pressurisation, ventilation, controls, access control, and power systems that keep escape routes clear of smoke, the precise coordination between HVAC, alarm, and access control systems, or the meticulous compartmentation designed to contain a fire. You only become aware of this complex system’s integration in the moments when it must perform perfectly during a fire event and evacuation.
This “invisibility” is a testament to good engineering, but it has also contributed to its undervaluation. When treated as a standalone discipline, considered late in the design process, fire and life safety becomes a constraint to be managed rather than an integral system to be optimised during an integrated design process. This is where risks are introduced and the checkbox mentality fails.
The Integrated Design Process Imperative: Breaking Down the Silos
The solution lies in a fundamental shift in our methodology: the Integrated Design Process (IDP). IDP moves fire safety from a downstream compliance issue to an upstream strategic priority.
A recent AESG fire life safety event in London brought together experts from fire engineering, security, and facades to champion IDP.
This was the central theme of a recent fire life safety event hosted by AESG in London at the prestigious RICS Surveyors’ Hall. The event brought together a diverse group of thought leaders, including our global fire and life safety expert and NFPA Standards Chairman Jim Quiter, former London Fire Brigade Deputy Commissioner Steve Apter, and specialists in security and building design.
The discussions were powerful because they broke down professional silos. We explored a stark contrast: for mission-critical facilities like data centers or casinos, where the cost of failure is astronomical, IDP is driven by high consequences. Yet, for other building types, a lack of immediate consequences has historically allowed a disaggregated approach to persist.
The insights were clear. Fire and life safety is not a solitary discipline. It is deeply interconnected with:
Facades Engineering
The selection and integration of materials and systems that form the building envelope.
MEP
The building management and HVAC systems that must switch from energy saving mode to facilitating life safety in an emergency.
Security
The access control and communication systems used for both daily operations and mass evacuation.
Building Resilience
The overall capacity of a structure and its systems to respond and recover from a catastrophic event.
Without early integrated collaboration between all disciplines, design can lead to unintended consequences vulnerability.
From Concept to Reality: The AESG Approach
At AESG, our service model is engineered for integration. Our fire and life safety engineers, operating at the competency level defined for Chartered Professional Engineers (CPEng), work within multi-disciplinary teams from a project’s earliest stages.
This allows us to:
The AESG London event culminated in a powerful example of this cross-disciplinary thinking. A discussion on the failures of emergency communication at Grenfell led to an innovative proposition from our security specialist: leveraging the UK’s emergency mobile alert system to send targeted evacuation commands directly to every phone in a building during a crisis. This is the kind of innovative, lifesaving idea that can only emerge when diverse experts are in the same room, focused on a single goal.
A New Standard of Performance: Measuring What Matters
The legacy of Grenfell must be a continuous elevation of standards. New regulations like the UK’s Building Safety Act are a step forward, but regulations represent the minimum.
The ambition must be higher. True leadership means moving beyond the checkbox. It means embracing integration not as a project requirement, but as a moral and professional imperative.
As discussed at our event, this involves a fundamental shift in how we define and track value through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). While traditional metrics focus solely on capital expenditure, a modern, high-performance approach prioritises a holistic view that encompasses safety, CAPEX, OPEX, and sustainability.
Measuring What Matters on a Whole Building Basis: A Data-Driven Framework
A case was made for moving beyond checklists to a robust, data-driven framework built on core KPIs that define true building performance:
Verified FM
To ensure fire and life safety systems will work on the day, regular scheduled systems and equipment testing are required. This needs to be objectively recorded and verified.
Energy Use Intensity (EUI)
This measures a building’s energy consumption relative to building size and type. A low EUI is a direct indicator of operational efficiency, reduced environmental footprint, and long-term cost control, all of which contribute to a building’s overall resilience.
Water Use Intensity (WUI)
Often the most overlooked metric, it measures water consumption relative to building size and type. WUI is critical for long-term sustainability. As a resource with no substitute, efficient water management is paramount for resource security and operational integrity.
Cost
The universal benchmark, but now evaluated through a wider lens that considers total lifecycle value. This includes operational savings, reduced risk of failure, and the assurance of safety, rather than just upfront construction expense.
By championing these KPIs, we create a continuous feedback loop that drives improvement and ensures that safety, efficiency, and resilience remain living priorities throughout a building’s entire lifecycle. After all, you cannot manage what is not measured!
There is an assumption by building users and occupants that they are safe. All built environment professionals have a duty of care to ensure this is a reality.
At AESG, we are committed to championing an integrated whole building design approach that ensures fire and life safety is a key component of building design, construction, commissioning, and operation.
AESG is an international Consultancy, Engineering and Advisory firm committed to driving sustainability in the built environment and beyond. With the highest calibre leadership team in our field, we pair technical knowledge with practical experience to provide hands-on, bespoke strategic solutions to our clients.
We have one of the largest dedicated specialist consultancy teams working on projects within the building, urban planning, infrastructure and strategic advisory sectors. With decades of cumulative experience, our team offers specialist expertise in sustainable design, sustainable engineering, MEPF, fire and life safety, façade engineering, commissioning, digital delivery, waste management, environmental consultancy, strategy and advisory, security consultancy, cost management and acoustics. Our prestigious portfolio demonstrates our extensive capabilities and our ability to consistently deliver best in class solutions to some of the industry’s most complex technical challenges.
Chief Technical Officer, AESG
Adam is AESG’s Chief of Technical Officer. He has worked on projects in 21 countries, held leadership positions at several firms and is an advocate for high performance buildings. Adam has a unique skill set derived from experience in property development, design team and project management plus building commissioning. Adam is passionate about promoting the concept of commissioning management as an effective project management tool, to hand over high performance buildings. Adam devises and delivers successful project, leadership and testing strategies that achieve optimum outcomes for all involved and affected.
As well as being an industry philosopher, blogger and podcaster, Adam has contributed to several commissioning codes & guides. He also has unique knowledge and experience leading digital solutions for building commissioning and building information asset management.
For further information relating to specialist consultancy engineering services, feel free to contact us directly via info@aesg.com
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