Passive Fire Advisory for Designers, Architects & Contractors
Installer-side advice before passive fire has been allowed for, priced or built. Passive fire is rarely detailed on the drawings, so we review what is there, tell you what is missing, match it to manufacturer tested systems, and flag the penetrations and junctions that will fail inspection or blow the budget if they are left to site.
What passive fire advisory is, and what it is not
Passive fire is rarely drawn. On most projects it is a line in the specification and an allowance in the budget, and the details get worked out on site after the linings are on. That is when the fire-rated wall turns out to have no deflection head detail, services have been routed through a shaft that was never meant to be penetrated, and nobody can find a tested system for what has been built. The fix is a variation.
Halt Fire's advisory service puts an installer's eye on the job earlier. We look at your drawings, details and specifications the way we would if we were pricing and building them, and tell you what will work, what has a tested system behind it, what will be hard to seal as drawn, and what it is likely to cost.
What it is not. We do not provide fire engineering design, alternative solution assessments, PS1 or PS2 producer statements, or design certification. The fire engineer of record holds design responsibility. Our advice points to manufacturer tested systems for your fire engineer and design team to adopt as they see fit. For the compliance chain this sits in, read our beginner's guide to passive fire protection.
Where an installer's input pays for itself
The questions we get asked most, and the ones we wish we were asked earlier.
Buildability review of fire-rated details
Head-of-wall, junction, penetration and shaft details checked against how they will actually be built and sealed. Where a detail cannot be installed as drawn, we say so and suggest what can.
Tested system selection
Matching each penetration, gap and junction to a manufacturer system with test evidence for that substrate, service and rating, so the schedule of solutions holds up at consent and at inspection.
Penetration set-outs
Helping services engineers group and space penetrations through fire separations so tested systems apply, with the hole sizes and separations the systems need.
Sequencing & programme
When linings, services and fire stopping should happen relative to each other, and where the hold points for inspection and photographs need to sit.
Existing-building strategy
For remediation and BWOF work: which raised items are genuine, which are already compliant, what the sensible order of attack is, and what to budget.
How an advisory engagement runs
Terms in writing
We confirm the scope, the rate and how time is tracked before any advice is given. Nothing starts on a nod.
Estimate before anything over an hour
Quick questions get answered. Anything larger gets a time estimate first so you decide whether to proceed.
Advice with the evidence
Written advice referencing the tested systems, manufacturer details and standards relied on, so your fire engineer can adopt or challenge it on the record.
Running total in every reply
Each piece of advice closes with the time on that query and the total to date. Invoiced monthly from the same record.
What you get back
- Marked-up details and comments on your drawings and specifications, from an installation perspective
- A list of tested systems that fit each condition, with manufacturer references your fire engineer can check
- The items the drawings miss flagged early, so they can be allowed for rather than claimed later
Who uses advisory
Architects & designers
In-depth knowledge of the passive fire products and tested systems on the market, and how they can be adapted to the situations in your design, so the specification points to something that can be built and certified.
Fire engineers
A rating that cannot be built is not a rating. We check your details will install as drawn, and where a condition falls outside the tested scenarios, we point to the closest tested evidence and the variables that evidence depends on. The judgement, and the design, remain yours.
Main contractors & project managers
A second set of eyes on the passive fire scope: help planning and coordinating service set-outs with the other trades, and finding the risk items on a job that blow out time or budget.
Advice from the people who install it
- 1
We install what we advise on
Every recommendation comes from someone who has to make it work above a ceiling, not from a catalogue.
- 2
Tested systems, not opinions
Advice references manufacturer test evidence and appraisals, so it can be adopted into a design or challenged on the record.
- 3
An experienced eye for what the drawings miss
Deflection heads, purlins through linings, mixed-service openings. The details that become variations get raised at the start.
- 4
Clear boundaries
We advise on installation and constructability. Design stays with your fire engineer. Nobody is left unsure who owns what.
Passive fire advisory, common questions
Is this fire engineering design?
What does advisory cost?
Can you just answer a quick question?
Will you install the work as well?
What do you need from us to start?
Do you cover projects outside Auckland?
Planning a project with fire separations in it?
The cheapest time to talk to an installer is before passive fire has been allowed for. Send us whatever drawings you have and the questions, and we'll tell you what it will take.