Structural Fire Engineering

Kiwa Fire Safety Compliance’s Structural Fire Engineering (SFE) service ensures your building’s structure performs under fire conditions — not just by assumption, but through rigorous analysis. Whether you're working with existing buildings, hybrid materials, or non-standard details, our engineers help you reduce risk, optimise costs responsibly without compromising on safety, and stay fully compliant.

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What is Structural Fire Engineering?

In most types of buildings, it is necessary to ensure that the core structure will remain in place for a reasonable period during a fire.

Structural Fire Engineering (SFE) ensures that a building’s core structure can withstand fire for a sufficient period, supporting safe evacuation and emergency response.

At Kiwa Fire Safety Compliance, our engineers use advanced modelling techniques to predict fire severity at critical locations and assess how structural elements -such as beams, floors, and walls - will respond over time. By applying Eurocode-based calculations and validated heat transfer analysis, we deliver precise, evidence-backed evaluations of structural fire performance.

This approach often leads to more efficient fire protection strategies, reducing unnecessary materials and costs while ensuring full regulatory compliance.

Desktop Studies

Assess non-tested or non-standard construction details using engineering judgement, tabulated data, and advanced modelling to determine fire resistance.

Numerical Modelling

Simulate fire scenarios using finite element analysis to predict how structural elements behave under thermal and mechanical stress.

Site Inspections

Evaluate the inherent fire resistance of existing structures during construction, refurbishment, or change of use, based on on-site observations and documentation.

Third-Party Reviews

Provide independent, expert validation of fire engineering reports to support compliance, quality assurance, or regulatory approval.

Technical Advice

Offer tailored guidance to design teams, insurers, and regulators on fire resistance strategies, performance-based design, and compliance pathways.

Why Choose Us?

Our Structural Fire Engineering Team can confirm your building's fire performance without over-specifying protection. Ensuring your structure performs under fire with evidence-based analysis that supports compliance, cost savings, and architectural freedom.

- Clear and timely answers grounded in engineering insight

- Performance-based design flexibility

- Enables architectural freedom

- Cost savings through reduced protection without compromising safety

- Robust evidence for compliance and risk management

Assessing Existing Buildings

Evaluate the fire resistance of structures during refurbishment or change of use, identifying whether additional protection is needed to meet current standards.

Non-Standard Materials or Mixed Systems

When using hybrid or unconventional materials, SFE ensures fire performance is properly assessed beyond standard guidance.

Non-Tested or Unusual Details

For construction details not covered by existing fire test data, SFE provides engineering analysis to justify their use and performance.

Performance-Based Design or Engineering Judgement

When prescriptive codes don’t apply, SFE enables a flexible, evidence-led approach to demonstrate compliance through validated modelling.

"Working collaboratively with Kiwa we have been able to navigate through the constantly changing requirements for compliant fire safety design and have successfully implemented our own ‘best practice’ standards.”

David Poat

Technical and Cost Manager | Developments, Notting Hill Genesis (Housing Association)