OUR SERVICES

Solis Fire Engineers offers a wide range of Fire Engineering and Fire Safety consultancy services for buildings, structures and infrastructure projects

FIRE ENGINEERED PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS

Solis Fire Engineers specialises in the development of performance-based solutions for buildings, structures, and infrastructure projects. We work closely with the whole of the design team, the Building Certifier/Surveyor, and the Fire Brigade, to develop a tailored solution that not only complies with the Performance Requirements of the Building Code, but also provides a practical, cost-effective and buildable outcome.

Talk to Solis Fire Engineers about your project needs - whether you want to address identified departures from the Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions of the Building Code, explore Value Management opportunities, or your ambitions demand a far greater degree of architectural freedom than the prescriptive Building Code will allow, Solis Fire Engineers’ technical expertise and industry experience will deliver great results and a smoother approval process.

PRELIMINARY ADVICE AND FIRE SAFETY STRATEGIES

The value Solis Fire Engineers can add to your project is directly proportional to how soon we can engage with the design. Let us review your plans early on, so that we can identify key risks and value engineering opportunities at the concept stage, to help shape your design and allow you to make more informed decisions. This allows you to better understand your options, and the risks and benefits, before it’s too late.

Solis Fire Engineers can prepare a preliminary Fire Safety Strategy Report and drawing mark-ups that provide clear guidance to the design team, and a cohesive fire strategy that will also assist with feasibility and pricing. We can reduce project risk even further by holding a pre-FEB meeting with the fire brigade to better appreciate their key concerns (e.g. perimeter vehicular access), before proceeding too far with the design.

FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT

Bringing existing buildings into compliance can often be very challenging, and achieving a Deemed-to-Satisfy solution is frequently cost-prohibitive. Solis Fire Engineers are skilled in utilising risk-based assessment to demonstrate that an appropriate level of safety can be achieved in an existing building, without needing to demonstrate full compliance with the current Building Code.

This can often mean the difference between an upgrade project proceeding, or being shelved. In many cases, it may even mean the difference between the business continuing to operate, or needing to shut down operations or relocate, both of which can have significant financial, brand and community impacts.

PEER REVIEW

Peer review is a fundamental part of all quality engineering design. Solis Fire Engineers provides fire engineering peer review for regulatory compliance, value engineering or risk management purposes. With extensive experience in both regulatory review and engineering consultancy, Solis Fire Engineers brings the ideal balance of rigour and pragmatism to each peer review.

At Solis Fire Engineers, we recognise that the intent of a peer review is to reduce risk and add value to a project, not to score points. Our peer review reports offer clear, concise and constructive advice to assist the project to meet its objectives, and we work collaboratively with the design team so that the required outcomes of the peer review are resolved in an effective and timely manner.

EXISTING BUILDING ASSESSMENTS

Fire safety compliance is one of the most important factors to consider when contemplating work on an existing building. Whether extensions and alterations are proposed, or a change of use, or due diligence for a property sale is required, building fire safety compliance can introduce significant and often unexpected risks for existing buildings.

Solis Fire Engineers can carry out a site review and assess existing building documentation, including any existing fire engineered solutions. We can then advise you of what the main fire-related compliance issues are likely to be, and potential options to resolve them, including the challenges and likely chance of success for each option. This process arms you with the information needed to make informed and aware decisions in relation to any proposed works or actions. Note that in order to identify all compliance issues associated with the building, you will also need to engage with a Building Certifier or Surveyor. Solis Fire Engineers can assist you with this process if required.

EXPERT WITNESS SERVICES

Solis Fire Engineers offers Expert Witness services for Building Code compliance matters and post-incident analysis. Out team comprises not only highly experienced and well-respected consulting fire engineers, with many years in the industry, but we also have experience in fire investigation and professional fire fighting, with a wealth of practical firefighting and post-fire investigation knowledge to draw on. This provides us with the necessary technical expertise, practical experience, and credibility to be an effective Expert Witness.

Our team's credentials include Expert Witness training at the University of New South Wales, Fire Investigation courses with the New Zealand Fire Service (Level 1, 2 and 3 Fire Investigation) and an adaptation of the US National Fire Academy’s Fire/Arson Investigation course, designed to comply with NFPA 921 and NFPA 1033. Whether authoring technical reports or providing evidence on the stand, we offer credibility as an Expert Witness that many others in the industry simply cannot match.

CONSTRUCTION PHASE SERVICES

Your project is not just a set of drawings and specifications, it is ultimately a completed building. The construction process frequently introduces errors, omissions and variations to the approved design that can seriously jeopardise your ability to achieve final sign-off by the Approval Authority and the fire brigade, increasing the risk of project delays and potent financial penalties.

By engaging Solis Fire Engineers for Construction Phase services, we can significantly reduce your sign-off risk at project completion. Our services range from provision of a final site review and confirmation of compliance with the fire engineering requirements (this is often required by the Building Certifier/Surveyor as part of their sign-off), to interim site reviews and attendance at commissioning tests. We can also assist in resolving unexpected challenges that arise during the construction process which cannot be easily addressed by a Deemed-to-Satisfy solution.

COMPUTER MODELLING

Whether part of a fire engineered Performance Solution or as a standalone assessment, computer modelling is a very powerful fire engineering tool - but only if it is used correctly. Solis Fire Engineers are specialists in the use of computer fire and smoke modelling, ranging from relatively simple zone models to complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD) field models, and agent-based probabilistic evacuation modelling.

The use of computer smoke modelling and occupant evacuation modelling (often integrated into one simulation) allows Solis Fire Engineers to resolve very complex fire engineering challenges with the level of certainty necessary to satisfy the Approval Authority and fire brigade, and to refine design elements (e.g. smoke exhaust rates) to provide the most efficient and cost-effective outcomes for your project.