Approach to all RIBA stages for design and development

Delta Fire Engineering provide fire engineering consultancy services throughout all RIBA Design Stages, as described below.

• At RIBA Stage 02 Delta Fire Engineering provide design input including the review of proposed drawings and construction details, and work with the design team to ensure fire safety input is considered at the early design stage. Typical deliverables at RIBA Stage 02 include attendance at DTM’s and fire strategy workshops, marked-up fire strategy drawings and technical notes analysing specific areas of the developing fire strategy design.
• At RIBA Stage 03 Delta Fire Engineering will continue the fire strategy design into the developed design stage, carrying out engineering assessments of deviations from guidance and presenting justifications to the approval authorities. We continue to work closely with the client and design team to ensure that fire engineered solutions developed are pragmatic, proportionate and buildable; whilst ensuring compliance with relevant codes and standards.
• At RIBA Stage 04 Delta Fire Engineering finalise the fire strategy development, providing a consolidated fire strategy report. The FSR includes a detailed compliance assessment of the proposed scheme and clearly details any deviations from guidance, providing engineering justification for the deviation.
• Delta Fire Engineering have a unique approach to RIBA Stage 05 delivery. We have a specialist sub-team who offer an Implementation service, whereby our RIBA Stage 04 fire strategy is novated over to the Implementation Team who then provide construction phase support to the design team and contractor; which may consist of on-site monitoring, review of construction details or development of engineering judgements for non‑compliant details or product specifications. The Implementation Team ensure the fire strategy is constantly updated throughout the construction phase to ensure that the final fire strategy, provided at RIBA Stage 06, accurately reflects the building and the as-built condition, as opposed to the intended design. This is our unique approach to the Golden Thread, and through our joined-up approach we provide reassurance to the client that decisions made early in the design are appropriately specified, procured and installed in line with the approved strategy and required standards.

Delta Fire Engineering have developed a unique service offering built around the Building Safety Act, ensuring that the Golden Thread of Information from the early design stages through to construction are maintained and documented appropriately. This is achieved by utilising our in-house fire engineering team, specialist Implementation sub-team and the facilities available in our dedicated Research & Development laboratory. We support clients throughout the Planning Gateways process in the following way:

• Planning Gateway One – Delta Fire Engineering fire engineers produce the full PGO submission, where required, and liaise with the Building Safety Regulator in attaining planning approval for the proposed development.
• Planning Gateway Two – Delta Fire Engineering offer a full plan-check service, consisting of a signed ratification of drawings where these are observed to comply with the requirements of the approved fire strategy. Delta Fire Engineering work closely with the architect and design team to ensure the requirements of the fire strategy are correctly interpreted, including producing technical briefing notes for individual elements of the fire strategy (e.g. briefing notes for external wall specification, fire door requirements, cavity barrier locations etc). 
• Planning Gateway Three – The specialist Fire Strategy Implementation Team provide construction monitoring services throughout RIBA Stage 05 and compile a package of Site Inspection Reports (SIR’s) which can be presented to the Building Safety Regulator as evidence of compliance to the approved fire strategy. These SIR’s provide a record of the sequencing of works, and are intended to provide the BSR all the evidence needed to determine that the requirements of the stop/go gateway 03 have been satisfied. Where deviations from the approved fire strategy are identified during construction, we can either work with the contractor to ensure that these are rectified or re-assess the fire strategy requirements commensurate with the design change process.

All the work carried out at Delta - whether it is in the design stage, construction site monitoring or engineering judgements developed in our R&D laboratory – is fully aligned to our Core Value of being Client Focused, Committed to Quality and Passionate about Innovation.