Once building design has been sufficiently developed for decisions to be made about the location of fire safety systems within the building and Fire Service access, the Fire Service should be consulted by the designer. Both the building code, and various fire safety system standards make it clear that the Fire Service must approve many aspects of the design in respect of fire fighting facilities.

While the end users of the fire fighting facilities and fire safety systems will ultimately be operational fire crews, the technical fire safety officer can bring a wealth of knowledge to this part of the process, particularly with regard to knowledge of the various codes and standards. However, as with the Fire Engineering Brief (FEB) process, it is critical that operational staff are involved in fire fighting facilities discussions with the designer.

A guide has been developed to assist building designers, developers, architects and owners to design facilities and features for fire fighting. Such features would then aid the NZFS to operate more efficiently and effectively in and around the built environment where it has become necessary to exercise its operational fire fighting functions.

The 'Fire Service Operations in Buildings' guide is updated at regular intervals and can be found here.