For property developers in Ireland, passive fire protection is one of those project elements that is easy to underestimate at the outset and expensive to deal with poorly at the end. It sits at the intersection of regulatory compliance, construction programme, and commercial cost in ways that can catch developers out if the planning and procurement are not handled correctly from the start of the project.
This article is written for property developers in Ireland, specifically those developing commercial offices, residential apartment buildings, retail developments, industrial and logistics buildings, and mixed-use schemes. It covers how to approach passive fire protection from the early design stage through procurement, construction, and final handover, with the aim of avoiding the programme and cost problems that arise when fire protection is treated as an afterthought.
FireShield Ireland carries out passive fire protection and structural steel fireproofing on commercial and residential development projects across all 32 counties of Ireland and throughout Northern Ireland. Our full range of services is at https://fireshieldireland.com/services/passive-fire-protection/.
Why Developers Need to Understand Passive Fire Protection
Developers who take an active interest in passive fire protection on their projects are not becoming fire engineers. They are recognising that the passive fire protection element of a development project has commercial implications that go beyond the subcontract cost, and that understanding those implications early allows better commercial decisions throughout the project.
The passive fire protection cost on a commercial office building is not a trivial item. On a multi-storey steel-frame office building in Dublin, the cost of structural steel fireproofing alone can be several hundred thousand euros depending on the scale and complexity of the project. The intumescent coating cost on a high-specification office building with significant exposed architectural steel can add substantially to this. These are real costs that belong in the development appraisal from the outset rather than appearing as surprises in the construction cost.
Beyond the direct cost, the passive fire protection element affects the construction programme in ways that have indirect commercial implications. If the fireproofing programme is not properly integrated into the overall construction programme, delays in the fireproofing cause delays in the follow-on trades, which delay practical completion, which delay the start of rental income or the completion of sales. On a significant development project, a programme overrun of even a few weeks has a material commercial impact that typically dwarfs the cost saving that might have been achieved by squeezing the fire protection budget.
Finally, passive fire protection is a mandatory element of building control compliance, which is a condition of obtaining the completion certificate, which is a condition of occupying or selling the building. A development project that reaches practical completion with inadequate or undocumented passive fire protection cannot proceed to occupation. The cost and disruption of remedial work to address passive fire protection deficiencies at the end of a project is far greater than the cost of getting it right during construction.
Stage 1: Design and Planning
The starting point for passive fire protection on any development project in Ireland is the appointment of a competent design team with the experience to address fire safety requirements correctly at the design stage.
The architect is the primary specifier of fire safety measures on most commercial development projects in Ireland. The architect’s responsibility includes designing the building to comply with Part B of the Building Regulations, including the fire resistance of elements of structure and compartment boundaries, the means of escape, the fire detection and alarm system, and the access and facilities for the fire service. On more complex projects a specialist fire engineer may be appointed to develop the fire safety strategy and demonstrate compliance through fire engineering methods where the prescriptive requirements of TGD-B are not straightforwardly applicable.
At the design stage the developer should ensure that the structural fire resistance requirements are clearly established and that the structural engineer has provided the section information required to specify the fireproofing correctly. The choice between spray-applied fireproofing for concealed steel and intumescent coatings for exposed architectural steel should be made at design stage based on a clear understanding of which steel will be visible in the finished building and which will be concealed.
The Fire Safety Certificate application in the Republic of Ireland must be submitted and approved before construction begins. The developer should ensure that the Fire Safety Certificate is included in the project programme as an early milestone and that the design is sufficiently developed to support the application before construction is scheduled to start. A Fire Safety Certificate application that requires significant revision delays the start of construction and the programme from that point onwards.
The developer should also engage the passive fire protection contractor, specifically FireShield Ireland for any project specifying Monokote, at the design stage to obtain preliminary pricing, confirm the primer compatibility with the intended steel fabricator, and provide programme input. This early engagement costs nothing and prevents the technical problems that arise when the fire protection contractor is engaged late.
Stage 2: Procurement
The procurement of the passive fire protection subcontract should happen at the pre-construction stage, before the structural steel erection begins. On projects where the main contractor procures all specialist subcontractors, the developer’s role is to ensure that the main contractor’s procurement programme includes the fire protection subcontract at the appropriate stage and that the subcontract scope, documentation requirements, and programme obligations are properly specified.
For Monokote spray applied fireproofing, the procurement question is resolved by the specification. FireShield Ireland is the only licensed Monokote applicator in Ireland, which means the subcontract is awarded to us regardless of any competitive tendering process for other packages. Developers and main contractors should understand this clearly because it affects how the procurement programme is structured.
For intumescent coating work, competitive tendering is the standard approach. The tender package should include the complete technical specification, the structural section information for the thickness calculations, the required fire resistance periods, the primer specification, the colour and finish requirements, the programme requirements, the insurance requirements, and the documentation requirements. A tender package that is missing any of these elements will produce tenders that are not comparable and that may not adequately price the full scope of the work.
The documentation requirements in the subcontract package are particularly important and are frequently given insufficient attention in developer and main contractor procurement processes. The subcontract should explicitly require the fire protection contractor to provide the product data sheets and certificates, the fire resistance calculations, the project-specific thickness schedule, the quality control records from the installation, and the completion certificate. Making these requirements explicit in the subcontract and linking them to the payment conditions ensures that the documentation is provided progressively during the project rather than being chased at the end.
Stage 3: Construction
During the construction phase the developer’s direct involvement in the passive fire protection installation will typically be limited, with day-to-day management handled by the main contractor and the developer’s project manager or employer’s agent. However, the developer should be aware of the key milestones and risks in the fireproofing programme.
The most critical milestone is the completion of the fireproofing on each floor before the ceiling installation starts. This is the point at which the window for correcting any fireproofing deficiencies closes, because once the ceiling is installed, access to the structural steel is no longer possible without removing the ceiling. The developer’s project manager should confirm that the main contractor has a clear protocol for releasing each area for ceiling installation only after the fireproofing has been completed and verified.
The quality control records from the fireproofing installation should be reviewed periodically by the main contractor’s site management team and the results reported to the developer’s project manager as part of the regular progress reporting. Any areas identified as deficient in the quality control records should be confirmed as having been remedied before the ceiling installation proceeds.
The interface between the fireproofing subcontractor and the steel fabricator on primer compatibility should have been confirmed at the pre-construction stage, but should be re-confirmed when the steel is delivered to site and before the fireproofing application begins. Changes to the fabricator or to the primer specification after the pre-construction stage are a not uncommon occurrence on commercial construction projects and can introduce primer compatibility issues if not properly managed.
Stage 4: Completion and Handover
At the completion of the construction phase, the passive fire protection documentation forms part of the building’s completion package and is required for the submission of the completion certificate to building control.
In the Republic of Ireland, the completion certificate for a commercial building must be submitted to the local authority building control department and confirms that the building as built complies with the Building Regulations. The passive fire protection documentation, including the fireproofing completion certificate and supporting calculations and quality control records, is part of the evidence that supports this compliance declaration.
The documentation also forms part of the building’s health and safety file, which must be handed over to the building owner at practical completion under the Construction Regulations. The health and safety file is intended to contain the information that future occupiers and building managers will need to manage the building safely, including information about the passive fire protection measures installed in the building.
For developers who sell the completed building to an investor after practical completion, the quality and completeness of the health and safety file, including the passive fire protection documentation, is a due diligence point in the sale process. A building health and safety file that is missing significant elements of the passive fire protection documentation is a deficiency that may need to be remedied before the sale can complete.
Developers who retain the completed building as an investment property need the passive fire protection documentation as the basis for managing the building’s ongoing fire safety obligations, including the management of any subsequent building works that may affect the passive fire protection.
Common Developer Mistakes in Managing Fire Protection
Several recurring mistakes that developers make in managing passive fire protection on Irish commercial projects can be identified from the types of problems that arise on completed projects.
Treating fire protection as a late appointment is the most common and most consequential mistake. Appointing the fire protection contractor after the structural steel erection has started, without having confirmed the primer compatibility or integrated the fireproofing programme into the overall construction programme, causes problems that are entirely preventable.
Accepting a lowest-price tender without assessing technical capability is a mistake that is common across many specialist subcontract packages but has particularly significant consequences in passive fire protection. A fire protection contractor who cannot provide comprehensive documentation at the end of the project creates a building control problem that is expensive and disruptive to resolve. The saving achieved by accepting a lower tender price from a contractor with inadequate documentation standards is typically not commensurate with the cost of dealing with the consequences.
Not including documentation requirements in the subcontract is a mistake that leaves the developer without a contractual basis for requiring the documentation that building control requires. If the subcontract does not specify what documentation is to be provided and when, the developer has no contractual remedy when the documentation is inadequate or missing.
Allowing follow-on trades to start before the fireproofing is complete and verified is a mistake that is driven by programme pressure but creates a much more difficult and expensive programme problem than the one it is intended to avoid. Once the ceiling is installed, the cost of any remedial fireproofing work increases significantly because the ceiling must be removed and replaced.
What to Expect from FireShield Ireland as Your Fire Protection Contractor
FireShield Ireland engages with developers on commercial and residential development projects at the design stage to provide preliminary pricing, confirm primer compatibility, and provide programme input. During construction we manage our own work within the main contractor’s programme, provide regular progress updates, maintain quality control records that are available for inspection at any time, and flag any programme risks or technical issues at the earliest opportunity.
At completion we provide a comprehensive documentation package covering the product data sheets, fire resistance calculations, installation records, and completion certificate for the fireproofing installation. This documentation is provided in a format suitable for the building’s health and safety file and for submission to building control authorities in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
We are available throughout the project for technical queries from the developer’s project manager, the main contractor’s site management, and the design team. We attend project meetings when required and provide written responses to technical queries within a reasonable timeframe.
Contact us to discuss your development project at any stage of the design or procurement process.
https://fireshieldireland.com/services/passive-fire-protection/
https://fireshieldireland.com/services/commercial-fire-protection/
North: +447340781054 South: +353871128539