The process of fire safety design—development ofFire Engineering Guidelines in Australia

Australia is quickly moving toward adopting performance-based regulations for building fire safety. This approach offers owners and designers more flexibility, greater opportunity for innovation, and more cost-effective construction.To help introduce a performance approach, the Fire Code Reform Centre has developedFire Engineering Guidelines, which document an agreed methodology for performance-based design and draws on earlier Australian research and similar developments in a number of countries.The guidelines are the first step in a broader research program to develop a full risk assessment methodology as the basis for fire safety design in Australia.