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Building fire safety legislation and design framework; Societal expectation of life safety and property protection; Prescriptive and performance-based fire engineering design approaches; Application of qualitative and quantitative fire engineering analysis.
Students will assess the fire safety risks of common buildings in New Zealand and formulate different fire engineering strategies to mitigate the identified risks based on Acceptable Solution C/AS2, Verification Method C/VM2 and Alternative Solutions. The students will interpret legislation and the application of general fire engineering design principles to New Zealand practice. Students will adapt knowledge from this course in conjunction with background from all other courses in the fire engineering programme to design fire-safe buildings.
Interpretation of NZ legislations (Building Act and Building Code Clauses) on building fire safety and the different pathways to achieve compliance with the New Zealand Building Code (NZBC), including prescriptive Acceptable Solution, Verification Method C/VM2 and Alternative Solutions.Develop appropriate design practice, including analysing design fire scenarios, developing fire protection strategies, evaluating tenability of occupied spaces, evaluating occupant evacuation, evaluating life safety and property risks associated with fire spread, and assessing other fire-related risks.Develop understanding on fire risk analysis, decision-making and code of ethical conduct in the fire safety design of buildings.
ENGR403
ENFE601, ENFE602, ENFE603, ENFE610, ENFE615, ENFE618
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Dennis Pau
Anthony Abu
Acceptable Solution C/AS2 project: Students will work individually to develop a prescriptive fire safety review of a simple building in accordance with the (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) MBIE Acceptable Solutions C/AS2. The assignment is worth 10% of the course marks.Verification Method C/VM2 project: Students will work individually to develop a performance-based fire safety assessment of the same building in accordance with the MBIE Verification Method C/VM2, demonstrating the engineering calculations performed and outcomes attained. The assignment is worth 20% of the course marks.Alternative Solution project: Students will work in groups of 2, and each group will be assigned a complex building, to develop a performance-based fire safety design in accordance with an Alternative Solution, supported by scientific, engineering-based calculations, justifications and references. The fire safety design will be comprehensive and may require advanced analysis techniques. However, there are also limits on the maximum page lengths of submitted documentation.The project is divided into the following tasks with the percentage of the course mark indicated:Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) 10%Detailed Design Report 30%Peer Review Engagement 10%Presentation 5%Final Fire Safety Report 15%
Required Reading – Important details on building fire safety regulations in New Zealand, and the various pathways to demonstrate compliance fire safety. Extract from the New Zealand Building Code: Clause C1-C6 Protection from Fire, Clause A3 Building Importance Levels; https://www.building.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/building-code compliance/c-protectionfrom-fire/asvm/c1-c6-protection-from-fire-a3.pdf C/AS2 Acceptable Solution for Buildings other than Risk Group SH;https://www.building.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/building-code-compliance/c-protection-fromfire/asvm/cas2-2019-protection-from-fire-amendment-2.pdf C/VM2 Verification Method: Framework for Fire Safety Design;https://www.building.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/building-code-compliance/c-protection-from-fire/asvm/cvm2-protection-from-fire-amendment-6.pdf Commentary for Building Code Clauses C1-C6 and Verification Method C/VM2;https://www.building.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/building-code-compliance/c-protection-from-fire/asvm/cvm2-protection-from-fire-amendment-2-commentary.pdfRecommended Reading – Below are some readings to reinforce your understanding of the concept of performance based fire safety design and Alternative Solution. These will get you started with the complex Alternative Solution project (these are not the only documents to consult), and you should find more information to help you complete the project. International Fire Engineering Guidelines, 2005 SFPE Engineering Guide to Performance-based Fire Protection, 2007 SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, 2016 Fire Protection Handbook, 2008 Fire Engineering Design Guide, 2008Some lecture handouts will be made available on LEARN. This course, especially the Alternative Solution project will require your ability to formulate scientific, engineering-based justifications to support the assumptions and inputs you propose in your fire safety design. Several fire engineering journals within the literature, such as Fire Safety Journal, Fire Technology, etc. can be accessed from the UC Library, and will be useful sources of information.
Domestic fee $2,328.00
International Postgraduate fees
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
Maximum enrolment is 25
For further information see Civil and Natural Resources Engineering .