• Home
  • Graduates and Summer Interns
  • About us
  • Careers
    • Job vacancies
  • News
  • Projects
  • Perspectives
  • Meet the team
  • Get in touch

Our Engineering Practices

  • Fire Aus & NZ
  • Structures NZ
  • Infrastructure NZ
Holmesfire

Category: Industry

2022 Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards

August 15, 2022September 19, 2022 Leave a Comment on 2022 Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards

We’re proud to have been involved in 12 different award-winning projects!

Last Friday our team were honoured to attend the 2022 Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards held in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland).

The Property Industry Awards is the most prestigious property awards in Aotearoa New Zealand—celebrating excellence in design and innovation in the built environment for over 20 years. They showcase iconic projects in property development and investment across a broad range of sectors and design disciplines, as well as recognising outstanding projects, developments and refurbishments. The award winners are the best of the best; projects that provide an outstanding return or delivery of service potential on investment of funds, creating value for owners, tenants, and the wider community.

Holmes is a proud sponsor of the awards, regularly sponsoring the Holmes Group Tourism and Leisure Property Award.

At this year’s awards we’re excited to celebrate the achievements of our project partners, where our Fire Engineer Practice team and our Structures Engineering Practice team were involved in 11 unique and well-deserving projects!

Te Pae Convention Centre Christchurch [Image credit: Lightforge].
Our team of talented engineers and drafters were part of the following category winning collaborations:

  • Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, submitted by Ōtākaro Limited (Category Winner for the Warren & Mahoney Civic, Health & Arts Property Award)
  • The Rise, Auckland, submitted by Broadway Property Group (Category Winner for the Yardi Retail Property Award)
  • Generator NZ, Wellington, submitted by Precinct Properties New Zealand (Category Winner for the Naylor Love Heritage and Adaptive Reuses Property Award)
  • Generator NZ, Wellington, submitted by Precinct Properties New Zealand (Category Winner for the RCP Commercial Office Property Award Winner)
Selwyn Sports Centre, Rolleston.

Additional awards of significance:

  • Wakefield Hospital – Stage 1, submitted by Vital Healthcare Property Trust (Excellence Award for the Warren & Mahoney Civic, Health & Arts Property Award)
  • Aotea – Te Pokapū Aotea Centre, submitted by NZ Strong Group Limited (Merit Award for the Warren & Mahoney Civic, Health & Arts Property Award)
  • 22 The Terrace, Wellington, submitted by Stride Property Group (Excellence Award for the RCP Commercial Office Property Award)
  • St Georges Road, Auckland, submitted by Kalmar Construction, Miles Construction, Ministry of Architecture + Interiors and Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities (Excellence Award for the Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities Community and Affordable Housing Property Award)
  • Busby Street, Auckland, submitted by Miles Construction, RM Designs and Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities (Merit Award for the Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities Community and Affordable Housing Property Award)
  • Generator NZ, Wellington, submitted by Precinct Properties New Zealand (Excellence Award for the Resene Green Building Property Award)
  • 22 The Terrace, Wellington, submitted by Stride Property Group (Excellence Award for the Resene Green Building Property Award)
  • 30 Madden, Auckland, submitted by Willis Bond (Excellence Award for the Templeton Group Multi-Unit Residential Property Award)
  • Kōkihi, Auckland, submitted by Marutūāhu Iwi and Ockham Residential (Merit Award for the Award for the Templeton Group Multi-Unit Residential Property Award)
  • Cordis Hotel, Auckland, submitted by Great Eagle Development (Category Winner for the Holmes Group Tourism and Leisure Property Award)
  • Selwyn Sports Centre, Rolleston, submitted by Apollo Projects (Merit Award for the Holmes Group Tourism and Leisure Property Award)

 

Read about all the winners here on the Property Council New Zealand’s website.

Design and building practitioners legislation in Australia

July 15, 2021September 19, 2022 Leave a Comment on Design and building practitioners legislation in Australia

In response to the public’s growing uncertainty and trust in the residential sector, the NSW government has introduced new legislation and regulations aimed at improving the quality of building and construction work.

From the 1st of July 2021, the Design and Building Practitioners Regulation 2021 (DBP Regulation) came into effect in NSW. The new regulations include a registration and certification scheme that supports the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (DBP Act) enacted last year on 10th June 2020. The DBP Regulation has been designed to increase accountability in key stakeholders of the building including designers, developers, builders and professional engineers as well as establish a process requiring compliance declarations at multiple points of the building works.

On each residential apartment building project that adopts Performance Solutions, the Fire Engineer will be required to declare that the design meets the Performance Requirements and that the Fire Engineering Report integrates the designs of other key consultants such as structural, mechanical and fire services. These key consultants will also be required to declare that the requirements of the Fire Engineering Report have been incorporated into their design documentation.

Holmes Fire views the DBP Regulation as a welcome addition to the building industry and supports the inclusion of the design intergration process as a positive step towards a higher quality of building construction.

To streamline the process of integrating designs, Holmes Fire offers documentation review services – to put the magnifying glass over the drawings and specifications provided by key consultants to verify that the fire engineering requirements are correctly documented. Though the DBP Regulation and its requirements are new, Holmes Fire has an existing process to undertake documentation review services and have been offering this service to our clients for over 2 years.

Our team has found that reviewing documentation at the design stage results in issues being identified much earlier, when such issues only exist on paper. The time and effort taken to amend a drawing is relatively minimal compared to resolving a construction issue that has been built and has other completed building works surrounding it. This design documentation review process will reduce the number of issues that are discovered during construction works and fewer ‘patch fixes’ being used to resolve those issues.

Since offering design documentation review services 2 years ago, our team has developed an efficient process to review all relevant documentation and help the project proceed in a timely manner.

While the industry navigates its way around these big changes, it’s important to remember that it will take all affected practioners and businesses some time to adjust to the new norm for residential apartments. The DBP Regulation will lead to changes to our regular processes but the identification of errors at earlier stages will create opportunities for collaboration and innovation while also providing builders and developers with cost savings due to reduced rectification works during construction.

Who runs the (engineering) world

June 23, 2021September 19, 2022 Leave a Comment on Who runs the (engineering) world

A Holmes Fire Engineer is a challenger to the expected, motivated to find the best solution for all, and is curious in the face of a new problem. 

Making up nearly 15% of our current team, the women at Holmes have played an important role in our success across Australia, New Zealand and the US. From graduate roles to branch managers, Holmes firmly believes in giving women the tools and support they need to reach their professional goals. As the industry continues to expand and engineering becomes a more common career choice for women, we believe that we have been extremely fortunate to find the right engineers for our team so far but also look forward to discovering talented female fire engineers to join us.

This International Women in Engineering Day #INWED2021, we’ve chosen to shine the spotlight on a few of the women engineers in our Leadership team. In each of their roles and as engineers, they’ve brought their own talents, skills and drive to the table to support Holmes and the wider team as mentors, educators, problem-solvers and luminaries.

Click on their images below to find out a little more about each of these inspiring women.

Sarnia Rusbridge

Project Director

Sydney AU

Kathryn Devine

Business Manager | Project Director

Auckland NZ

Keryn Goble

Project Director

Auckland NZ

Alyson Blair, Senior Fire Engineer Downtown

Alyson Blair

Senior Fire Engineer

San Francisco US

Fire Australia 2021 Conference & Tradeshow

May 3, 2021September 19, 2022 Leave a Comment on Fire Australia 2021 Conference & Tradeshow

Australasia’s largest fire protection event, Fire Australia 2021, returns to Sydney this year with three days of the latest, leading fire safety content with key industry experts. The event features an intensive Conference Program with high profile speakers, breakout sessions, CPD seminars and off-site tours. The Tradeshow Hall will be open for all three days showcasing market-leading products and services from over 80 local and international exhibitors. FPA Australia will also be announcing their Award winners at the Conference Dinner held on Wednesday 12th May.

First held in 1965, the conference is hosted by Fire Protection Association Australia (FPA Australia), a not-for-profit organisation and national peak body for fire safety. The Association is made up of members from manufacturers, suppliers, installers and servicers of fire protection products and services, firefighters, building owners, insurers, designers and building surveyors, government and legislators, educators, bushfire consultants and anyone else working as part of the fire protection community to provide a safer environment for all Australians. The Association’s vision and purpose is a safer community where loss of life, injury and damage to property and the environment are eliminated through effective fire protection.

Join our very own Sarnia Rusbridge, Project Director in our Sydney office, and Nate Lobel, Principal Fire Safety Engineer at Performance Based Consulting, for a breakout session after Morning Tea on Day 1. They’ll be diving into a contentious topic, “Fire Safety Engineering – Did we drop the ball?”, where they’ll look at how fire safety and the role of fire engineers has developed, what the industry is currently achieving and what’s being done in the background to accommodate and prepare for the expectations of the building and construction industry. Be prepared to leave this session asking yourself – are we doing enough – through legislation, education, research and in our role as fire engineers within a project team.

Don’t miss the opportunity to see Sarnia in action and engage with industry professionals from around Australia, register now at fireaustralia.com.au.

A welcomed undertaking

November 18, 2020September 23, 2022 Leave a Comment on A welcomed undertaking

The International Fire Engineering Guidelines (IFEG) has been the go-to handbook of Australian fire engineers for years but this could all be changing soon.

Engineers Australia has formed a team comprised of leading fire engineers to provide guidance on the content of the new Australian Fire Engineering Guidelines (AFEG) at the behest of the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB). This team features our very own Sarnia Rusbridge, Project Director in our Sydney office. She has been working alongside Kjetil Pedersen from Warrington Fire, Jonathan Barnett from Basic Expert, and Tobias Salomonsson of RED Fire Engineers since mid-2020. Between the four, the team has decades of fire engineering experience internationally and in Australia under their belt and are well known within the industry for their specialist knowledge of fire safety practices and research.

The release of the AFEG will be welcomed by existing and incoming fire engineers who are focused on providing the best solutions for a project. Holmes looks forward to when the AFEG is completed and the clarity it will provide the Australian Fire Engineering industry.

Legislation changes for professional engineers in NSW, Australia

June 30, 2020September 19, 2022 Leave a Comment on Legislation changes for professional engineers in NSW, Australia

Following the paths of Queensland and Victoria, NSW Parliament recently passed a new law under the Design and Building Practitioners Bill that will require professional engineers to be registered to practise from July 1st.

The new law will require that anyone wishing to provide professional engineering services in the fields of civil, structural, electrical, mechanical and fire safety engineering be registered themselves or be working under the direct supervision of a registered engineer. The law aims to lift the professional standards of the engineering industry within NSW, to meet the legislative standards of our neighbouring states and to provide the community with a level of confidence in the engineering industry.

Future regulation will dictate the minimum requirements to be registered and the process for individuals to register. Engineers Australia (EA) and other professional bodies are pushing to allow anyone who is registered on the National Engineering Register (NER) or is a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) with EA to use their status as a pathway to statutory registration.

With 30% of our engineers currently holding a NER and/or CPEng status, and accreditations in Queensland and Victoria, Holmes welcomes the changes the new legislation will bring to the industry and look forward to meeting the higher levels of scrutiny and responsibility.

Glen Mitchell
CEO Australia | Project Director

James O’Neill
Branch Manager BRIS | Senior Fire Engineer

Sarnia  Rusbridge
Project Director

Michael Bower
Senior Fire Engineer
Erik Carlsson
Branch Manager SYD | Senior Fire Engineer
Mathew Freeman
Branch Manager MELB | Technical Director
Linus Lim
Technical Director

Michael Tsitovitch
Senior Fire Engineer

SAFIR Update; Improved Connections Supporting Faster Analysis

April 2, 2019April 5, 2019 Leave a Comment on SAFIR Update; Improved Connections Supporting Faster Analysis

Holmes Fire provided financial support for the new updates of the SAFIR non-linear finite element program with our very own Linus Lim providing input on connections development. SAFIR is a specialist finite element program that has been developed by Professor Jean-Marc Franssen (University of Liege) and Associate Professor Thomas Gernay (Johns Hopkins University) for the bespoke analysis of the structures in fire. From the numerous structural fire projects that Holmes Fire have undertaken, we recognised the need to improve the rotational hinge definition in the previous versions of the SAFIR program and provided financial support for the development of a new rotational hinge model in SAFIR, which also included the added ability to model semi-rigid connections. These new connection capabilities will enable engineers to represent boundary conditions of structural supports and connections more accurately. This can result in faster run times, better predictions of structural fire performance of real structures and can result in greater optimisation of fire protection of steel structures.

This development has been eagerly anticipated by the wider SAFIR user community due to the programs more user-friendly interface which results in faster implementation of these connections in the program and includes faster analysis times which will enable the faster delivery of results on projects.

Find useful resources and more about SAFIR here.

USA mass timber industry gets a growth spurt

December 21, 2018August 24, 2022 Leave a Comment on USA mass timber industry gets a growth spurt

Great news to end 2019! After nearly 3 years of development, committee hearings and voting, the proposed tall mass timber code changes (14 new sections) by the International Code Council [ICC] have finally been approved. While these prescriptive provisions don’t come into effect in the 2021 edition of the International Building Code [IBC], both Oregon and Washington have already passed legislation allowing these provisions to be in effect now.

Elsewhere, the Alternative Means and Materials (AMM) path provides a means in which these new code provisions may be implemented onto a project, through Authority approval process.

The 2021 IBC is expected to be released in late 2020, along with the full set of 2021 I-codes.

Holmes Fire have the expertise to assist you with developing a compliance strategy for your mass timber project and we are excited to work with these new advancements in the code to develop more successful Mass Timber projects across the US.

Learn more about the changes from American Wood Council or Contact Us to hear see how we can work with you on your next timber project.

Australian Steel Institute educating on Structural Fire Engineering

Australian Steel Institute educating on Structural Fire Engineering

October 11, 2018January 17, 2019

Holmes Fire are pleased to be supporting the Australian Steel Institute with their education to their members on the Benefits of Structural Fire Engineering.

A recent article has just been released for structural engineers and technical designers alike, on the opportunities that Structural Fire Engineering design principles and methodologies can provide for your steel projects.

Australian National Construction Code (NCC), through Performance-Based Solutions, supports advanced assessment methods and processes to satisfy the Performance Requirements. Performance-Based Solutions provide better quantification of structural performance in fire to verify structural robustness and provides the opportunity to optimise structural fire protection.

Want to know more? Our Technical Director, Dr Linus Lim will be presenting over the coming weeks for the Australian Steel Institute on Structural Fire Engineering.

For a presentation near you, be sure to register for the upcoming ASI events below:

Sydney- 15th October
Brisbane- 16th October
Melbourne- 17th October
Adelaide- 24th October
Perth- 25th October

Another Chartered Professional Engineer joins the Holmes team!

Another Chartered Professional Engineer joins the Holmes team!

February 13, 2018September 19, 2022

It’s an exciting start to the year for Holmes. We’re pleased to announce Erik Carlsson has achieved the status of Chartered Professional Engineer under the Engineers Australia accreditation scheme.

Erik has been part of the Holmes team since 2011. Graduating from Lund University in Sweden, Erik developed his Fire Engineering skills in the Sydney office whilst also assisting our Aotearoa New Zealand offices, as required. After 18 months working in our San Francisco office, he is now back in Australia working with the Sydney team. Erik brings a global mind-set and experience to our team—helping us to think outside the box that the Australian regulatory system can sometimes impose.

We’d like to congratulate Erik, after all his dedicated work over the years—this is a well-deserved achievement to have his competency officially recognised by Engineers Australia. And for Holmes, it’s great to add another Chartered Professional Engineer to our already experienced team, enabling us to deliver even more high quality fire engineering for our clients. Well done Erik on your hard work, it’s a fantastic accolade!

Celebrating 21 years of the Performance-Based Code in Australia

Celebrating 21 years of the Performance-Based Code in Australia

December 6, 2017December 14, 2018

The Holmes Fire team is celebrating together with the Australian Building Code Board (ABCB) to mark 21 years since the release of the first performance-based building code in Australia.

After a long era of only prescriptive based building codes, the ABCB launched the performance-based BCA (BCA96) in October 1996, introducing overarching Performance Requirements, enabling bespoke building solutions to be implemented, as long as they could be demonstrated to satisfy the Performance Requirements.

Holmes Fire has been undertaking performance-based fire engineering in Australia throughout these 21 years and actually even prior to the release of this code. One of our founders, Hamish Maclennan, was providing alternative designs to the prescriptive building code well before 1996, through applications to the NSW Land & Environment Court.

The introduction of BCA96 has been a great development and advancement for the industry allowing a change to the approach in how buildings are designed and constructed. And, in a 2013, an independent report estimated that 70% of the $1.1 billion per annum productivity gains delivered by ABCB reforms were derived from the performance-based code. This same report identifies that the productivity gains could potentially double with an increased use of Performance based design.

Holmes Fire believes that the performance-based BCA has achieved its intent to lay the foundation for an industry to advance design, encourage flexibility, improve efficiency and facilitate aesthetic architecture, whilst maintaining the safety, health and amenity requirements of the code.

Holmes Fire is one of the few fire engineering consultancy firms who has been practising with this code since it was first introduced, and consequently, a countless number of our clients have benefited from the opportunities performance-based design has offered in adopting new technologies and materials, reducing construction time and costs, and providing architectural flexibility.

ABCB is committed to progressing the code 21 years on, whilst maintaining an approach that increases compliance, efficiency and productivity, including quantification of the Performance Requirements, capacity building and engendering a performance mindset.

Happy 21st Birthday to the performance-based BCA, let us celebrate the growth in our industry, promote many more years of innovative design and continue to allow a performance mindset across Australia’s building and construction industry.

Legislation changes for NSW raise the bar for fire safety

Legislation changes for NSW raise the bar for fire safety

September 25, 2017December 18, 2018

From October 1st 2017, new fire safety and building certification amendments to the Environmental Planning & Assessment Regulation 2000 will come into effect. These reforms aim at improving fire safety within new and existing buildings by requiring fire safety practitioners involved in a given project to be ‘competent’, which was previously not the case. There was previously no minimum qualification or experience that a practitioner needed to have in order to design, install, commission or maintain fire safety systems such a smoke detection systems, sprinkler systems, hydrants and hose reels, and even smoke exhaust and stair pressurisation systems.

For over 10 years now, the EP&A Regulation has required that for large projects, the nominated Fire Safety Engineer be suitably qualified and accredited as a C10 Fire Safety Engineer, which is essentially a formal recognition that a fire engineer is ‘competent’. Holmes Fire has five C10 Accredited Fire Safety engineers (Sydney based), all with a Masters degree or higher. Additionally, all Holmes Fire engineers have, or are undertaking, a specialist tertiary qualification in fire safety. This enables our team to provide sound fire safety advice and Performance Solutions that harmonise client and architectural objectives, whilst still maintaining acceptable levels of life and fire safety.

The amended EP&A Regulation also includes a number of additional checks and balances for fire systems designers and Certifiers to action, and Holmes Fire can assist the project team in achieving these to facilitate a smooth development approval process:

  • Plans must show, and Specifications must describe, the physical aspects of any Performance Solution (Clause 130 and Clause 144A). Holmes Fire can provide documentation review services to verify that the requirements of a Holmes Fire Performance Solution have been incorporated into building plans and specifications. This also serves as a secondary review to identify any BCA anomalies that may be overlooked by the Certifier.
  • Fire & Rescue NSW must be given the opportunity to inspect the fire safety systems that are installed, extended or modified within a Class 2 or 3 residential building before an Occupation Certificate is issued (Clause 136AA), regardless of whether a fire engineered solution has been applied. Where fire safety concerns of non-compliances are raised by these Fire & Rescue NSW inspections, Holmes Fire may be able to provide fire engineering advice or a Performance Solution to assist in resolving the issue.
  • The format of annual fire safety statements is to be improved and made consistent (Clause 181). These statements will also now be required to list all Fire Engineering Reports and Performance Solutions that apply to the building. This represents an excellent opportunity to verify the fire safety schedule for existing buildings to ensure that the schedule correctly lists the installed systems and their standard of performance. Holmes Fire can assist with this process and since we are an independent firm that do not install or maintain fire services, our review will never be accompanied by a quote for rectification works.

The new Regulations introduce a new compliance method for fire safety system designs to incorporate minor deviations from the requirements of Australian Standards and BCA Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions (Clause 164B). Where such exemptions are sought, Holmes Fire can assist in determining whether the operational performance of other fire safety systems may be impacted by the proposed exemption. Holmes Fire can also assist in determining if the proposed exemption may have an impact on any existing or proposed Performance Solution for the building.

Overall these changes will greatly increase the level of robustness within the fire safety and construction industries and Holmes Fire are excited to work alongside Certifiers, builders, fire services engineers and our clients to continue to deliver a high standard of fire safety solutions.

Grenfell Tower Fire

June 16, 2017January 17, 2019

Holmes Fire has been shocked by the devastating events of the recent fire that raged the Grenfell Tower in London. Our thoughts go out to the victims and their friends and family.

When events like this occur a lot of questions are raised and the community looks to experts such as Holmes Fire to provide insight, and more importantly, surety that similar events are not likely to occur closer to home.

Our International CEO, Stuart Harris, who is also a volunteer fire fighter, was invited onto The AM Show in New Zealand to provide comment and answer some key questions about the incident and the potential implications for the New Zealand building industry.

You can see the full interview here (staring at 4:44).

Tall Timber: The way of the future

Tall Timber: The way of the future

March 20, 2017January 17, 2019

Buildings constructed of engineered timber products such as glulam, Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), and Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) are starting to pop up all across Australia and New Zealand. It’s easy to see why, as timber has many advantages when compared to more traditional materials such as steel or concrete and there is a real demand in the market for the cost and carbon savings that timber can deliver, as well as the excellent aesthetic exposed timber can provide to a building’s design.

Engineers Australia featured a 9 page spread about timber buildings in their March 2017 issue to explore why there is such a growing demand. In writing the piece, the EA editors sought the input of one of Holmes Fire’s Engineers – James O’Neill, who is our resident timber expert, having completed his PhD on the performance of multi-storey timber buildings exposed to fire.

You can read the article from the Engineers Australia magazine here.

Courtesy create magazine published by Engineers Australia.

Lessons to be learnt from Bankstown Fire Coroners Report

Lessons to be learnt from Bankstown Fire Coroners Report

January 30, 2015July 26, 2020

The NSW Coroner recently released the findings of the investigation of a fatal fire that occurred in a Bankstown Apartment building in September of 2012. Sadly a promising young woman, Connie Zhang, died from injuries sustained when she jumped or fell from the window of her Level 5 apartment whilst trying to escape the fire. Her housemate Ginger Jiang jumped from the window, and miraculously survived, but will be wheelchair bound for the remainder of her life. The building suffered extensive smoke and fire damage, resulting in a large number of residents displaced for up to a week after the fire. The local community was shocked and demanded answers as to how such a tragedy could occur. The Coroner’s report provides some of those answers and sets out a number of recommendations for key stakeholders in the building industry to minimise the risk of such a tragedy reoccurring. A few of the key issues and recommendations were:

Sprinklers

Based on the expert evidence presented, the Coroner was convinced that if the building had been provided with a sprinkler system, Connie would not have died. Sprinklers provide a multitude of fire safety benefits, most importantly, by automatically applying water to the fire and cooling smoke and fire gasses, sprinklers can avoid the fatal flashover scenario. Much of this Coroner’s investigation centred on whether the building was required to have a sprinkler system installed under the Building Code of Australia (BCA) Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions (issues of effective height and the building containing an atrium), however this discussion has little bearing on the actual fire safety risk within the Level 5 apartment that day. The fundamental issue is that the life safety benefits of sprinklers are not fully taken into account in the BCA Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions and the cost of installing sprinklers cannot be recovered by savings in other areas of the building design such as reductions in passive fire ratings or increase in travel distances to exits. These kind of concessions, based on the provision of sprinklers, are common in other building codes around the world and result in sprinklers being far more common in these jurisdictions. The Coroner has recommended that the Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions be reformed to require the installation of sprinklers in all residential apartment buildings and similar concessions to be permitted, but building codes are slow moving beasts and such change will likely be a number of years away.

Maintenance

The Coronial investigation revealed there were potential issues with the ongoing maintenance of the building’s fire safety systems. Apartment buildings in NSW are required to be certified once a year by a ‘suitably qualified person’ as having fire safety systems that are maintained and will perform as per the standard of performance they were installed to. Over the years of the Bankstown building’s life, two different companies had provided such annual certification, despite the building allegedly having significant deficiencies in the fire detection and alarm system, stair pressurisation system and exit signs. The Coroner highlighted that there is an industry wide problem were those who certify building fire safety systems are often not suitably qualified to do so, but due to the lack of any accreditation requirements, do so anyway. Furthermore, whilst many companies claim to follow the maintenance schedules of AS 1851, there are presently no requirements for them to do so. The Coroner’s recommendations seek to rectify these systemic issues, however maintaining adequate fire safety will always be reliant upon the expertise of the individual.

Fire Safety Star rating

One of the Coroner’s more controversial recommendations was that a star rating system for fire safety be developed such that a building’s fire safety can be ranked. This highlights a critical nuance that is often overlooked: the building code sets the minimum standard for fire safety, there is always the option to go above this minimum standard and provide additional fire safety features, however this rarely occurs. Providing additional fire safety systems can not only afford occupants a higher level of life safety, but also provide an increased level of property protection, minimising the potential damage to a building in the event of a fire, and reduce the extent of ‘downtime’ where the building is not able to be occupied after a fire. The problem is that presently there is little motivation for a developer to provide more than the minimum required level of fire safety. The Coroner proposed that a star rating system
for fire safety would provide motivation for additional investment in fire safety (similar to the way Green Star ratings provide motivation for investment in sustainable building design) and highlights that “members of the public are entitled to know whether the building which they occupy is compliant, but minimally so, of safer than the minimum standards”.

A copy of the full Coroner’s report can be found here.

Holmes Fire has not been involved with the subject development, this article is provided as an interest piece only. Holmes Fire sends our sincerest condolences to all those affected by this tragedy.

Recent Posts

  • Rankine Browne Library shortlisted for IStructE Awards
  • First human entry to the Christ Church Cathedral!
  • #ONEHOLMES
  • Atlassian | The World’s Tallest Timber Hybrid Tower
  • 2022 Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards
Holmesfire
  • Australia
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • USA

© Holmes Australia LP & Holmes NZ LP. All rights reserved