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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.
In this course, 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.
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, code of ethical conduct and current good practice in the fire safety design of buildings.Refine the engineering analytical skills developed previously and from other courses in the programme, including engineering assumptions, engineering calculations, results interpretations etc.Interpretation of the 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 the application of Compliance Documents (Acceptable Solution C/AS2 and Verification Method C/VM2), and the implementation of Alternative Solution.Formulate a performance-based fire safety engineering design for a complex building by evaluating the level of fire safety achieved and justifying the design produced through rigorous peer review process.
ENGR403
ENFE601, ENFE602, ENFE603, ENFE610, ENFE615, ENFE618
Students must attend one activity from each section.
Paul Horne
Anthony Abu and Aatif Khan
This course will be administered by Paul Horne (Course-Coordinator, paul.horne@canterbury.ac.nz). Other academics (Anthony Abu and Aatif Khan), guest lecturers or mentors will also contribute to the course. Paul will be the contacts for course and assignment related queries. A number of NZ practicing fire engineers will be involved with the course, acting as mentors for the students. The mentors’ role will be to provide high level technical feedback on the fire safety design proposed by the students. The design and project communication responsibilities remain solely with the students, i.e. design assumption, engineering calculations, numerical analysis, decision-making, organising meetings with mentors, etc.
Block Course Participation: Students will contribute to discussions at the block courses. As part of this groups of students will be asked to contribute to and lead class discussions. Contributions to class discussions during block courses are worth 5% of the course mark.Emerging Fire Safety Topic Presentation: In groups students will research and present on an emerging fire safety hazard. This is worth 5% of the course marks. Further information will be provided in Week 1.Acceptable Solution C/AS2 project: Students will appraise aspects of a simple building in accordance with MBIE Acceptable Solution C/AS2. The assignment is to be completed individually and is worth 5% of the course marks. Further information will be provided in the assignment handout.Verification Method C/VM2 project: Students will work individually to develop a performance-based fire safety design of the same building in accordance with the MBIE Verification Method C/VM2, demonstrating the engineering calculations performed and outcomes attained. This project is worth 30% of the course marks and consists of the following tasks:• Concept Design Meeting• Fire Engineering Brief• Fire Engineering Report• Comparison against NZBC C1-C6• Individual InterviewFurther information will be provided in the C/VM2 project handout and during Block Course 1.Performance-Based Design project: Students will work in groups, and each group will be assigned a complex building, to develop a performance-based fire safety design in accordance with Alternative Solution, supported by scientific, engineering-based calculations, justifications and references. Each students group will be mentored by a practising fire engineer, refer to ‘Guidelines for Mentors and Mentees’ for more details on the mentoring partnership. 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 Performance-Based Design project is worth 55% of the course marks, which is divided into the following tasks:• Stakeholder “Kick-off” and Concept Design Meetings• Fire Engineering Brief• Fire Engineering Report• Fire Engineering Report Peer Review and Meeting• Final Fire Engineering Report• Design presentationFurther information will be provided in the Performance-Based Design handout and in Block Course 2.Reports:All submission documentation in this course must each be submitted as a single document through LEARN in PDF format. The recommended format is at least 10-point Times New Roman or Arial and 1.15 spaced text. If not stated otherwise, submission should not exceed eight pages. Page lengths do not include cover sheet etc. Pages are portrait A4, with A3 acceptable for plans only. If you want to use colour in your reports, be aware that we do not always print out documents on a colour printer so, try as much as possible to make your reports readable in black and white. Correct use of English, appropriate SI units, etc. are required. Late submissions are not acceptable and will incur severe penalties at -10% of the assessment per day late.Lastly, students are expected to pass all three assessments to pass this course i.e. you cannot miss or fail any of the Acceptable Solution, Verification Method or Performance-Based Design assessments. Failing any of the assessments will result in fail grade for the course, and the following process will be undertaken by the Course-Coordinator:• For C/AS2 and C/VM2 assessments, the affected students will be informed by the Course-Coordinator of a minimum achievement threshold for the subsequent project interview, prior to the interview.•For Performance-Based Design, the affected students will be informed by the Course-Coordinator of a new Oral Assessment with a selected academics and mentors panel, to be scheduled after the submission of Final Fire Safety Report.
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 $2,393.00
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 .