Is Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) required?

If the proposals are more than a minor non-compliance of the DTS provision of the NCC, then a formal Fire Engineering Brief process is to be followed, including the following:

• A Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) is to be prepared and submitted to the CFS.
• A FEB meeting is to be held between the CFS and all stakeholders involved in the building project.
• Minutes from the FEB meeting are to be prepared and provided to the CFS for review and in-principle support of the issues discussed (as appropriate). This will allow the consultant fire engineer to proceed with the detailed analysis and subsequent fire engineering report.

In some cases, a concept design meeting between the CFS and stakeholders may also be of benefit, such as where the issues are considered to be complex or worthy of detailed preliminary discussions. This would occur prior to the preparation of the FEB document and the FEB meeting, but it would not replace the FEB stage of the process.

Relevant design drawings should be submitted to the CFS along with the FEB documentation.

It is recommended that the FEB report be submitted to the CFS at least ten business days prior to the FEB meeting being held, thus allowing CFS officers the opportunity to give consideration to the proposals before the meeting. If the FEB is submitted less than ten days before the meeting it may not be possible for the CFS to provide comprehensive advice during the meeting.

Development Regulations 2008 – Section 28 (3)

If a relevant authority, in assessing an application for building rules consent, considers that:-

1. a proposed alternative solution within the meaning of the Building Code required assessment against a performance requirement of the Building Code which provides for fire fighting operations of a fire authority; or
2. the proposed development is at variance with a performance requirement of the Building Code which provides for fire fighting operations of a fire authority; or
3. special problems for fire fighting could arise due to hazardous conditions of a kind described in Section E of the Building Code,

then the relevant authority must refer the application to the relevant fire authority for comment and report unless the fire authority indicates to the relevant authority that a referral is not required.

On the receipt of all the required information and under Development Regulations 2008 Section 28 (4) - the fire authority has 20 business days to respond. If during the review of the application more information is required or information is found to be missing then the legislated 20 business days response period will recommence from the receipt of this additional information.

Application for a Regulation 83 (4) fire authority report

A fire authority report must be sought by the relevant authority (council or private certifier) to granting a certificate of occupancy when a building:

• is equippped with a booster assembly, or
• will have a fire alarm installed that transmits a signal to an a approved monitoring service, and facilities for fire detection, fire fighting, or the control of smoke are installed