BIMinAM FIRE SMOKE AND ACCESS STRATEGIES WORKSTREAM GROUP MEETING 07-01-2026
One-Page Summary
BIM4Housing – Fire, Smoke and Access Strategies Workstream
Meeting date: 7 January 2026 (11:01)
Focus: Retrospective fire strategies, Golden Thread alignment, and operational fire safety governance
Purpose of the Session
The session examined the growing need for retrospective fire strategies for existing buildings and explored how structured information, digital capture, and the Golden Thread can support fire safety compliance, risk reduction, and cost-effective decision-making. The discussion brought together fire engineers, asset managers, designers, contractors, and landlords to identify systemic gaps and practical next steps
Why Retrospective Fire Strategies Are Now Essential
Participants agreed that retrospective fire strategies are increasingly critical because:
- Misinterpretation of compartmentation, resulting in wasted expenditure (e.g. upgrading doors that are not part of fire compartments).
- Incomplete or poorly coordinated Regulation 38 information, undermining both operational safety and compliance.
- Inspections and maintenance carried out without access to the fire strategy, leading to contradictory recommendations.
- Fire strategies that record what exists but not why systems were provided, blurring the line between statutory life safety measures and optional business/property protection measures.
Fire, Smoke, and Access Strategy Conflicts
Significant risks arise from poor integration between disciplines:
- Access control systems (e.g. maglocks installed for security) frequently conflict with fire escape and smoke control strategies.
- Fire and access engineers rarely collaborate, resulting in contradictory assumptions about evacuation and system behaviour.
- Commissioning and maintenance often occur in silos, with limited end-to-end system testing, allowing failures to go undetected over time.
Governance, Responsibility, and Culture
The discussion highlighted weaknesses in accountability:
- Responsible Persons often do not fully understand their duties under the Fire Safety Order, particularly around recording and assessing change.
- There is limited oversight of whether Regulation 38 packs are valid and complete, beyond simply confirming their existence.
- FM teams frequently lack the specialist knowledge required to interpret fire strategies, while CAFM systems often exclude passive fire elements.
- Cultural reliance on “tick-box” compliance persists, despite increasing regulatory and legal exposure.
Digitalisation and the Golden Thread
There is strong momentum toward digitising fire safety information, but concerns remain:
- Inconsistent templates, taxonomies, and proprietary “walled garden” systems undermine long-term data usability.
- QR codes and digital records are often poorly maintained or disconnected from authoritative data.
- The group agreed digital solutions must be based on open standards, with client-owned, transferable data and structured inputs suitable for fire engineers.
Agreed Priorities and Next Steps
The group aligned on the following actions:
- Develop a repeatable, standardised method for producing retrospective fire strategies.
- Clearly define the minimum structured information fire engineers need to work efficiently.
- Use 360 photography and digital evidence to reduce cost, reliance on scarce specialists, and time on site.
- Produce practical case studies to demonstrate Golden Thread value.
- Progress collaborative workflows, standardised inputs, and pilot projects to move from discussion to delivery.