What is Fire Strategy?
A Fire Strategy is a written document that sets out how a building achieves an acceptable standard of fire safety. It describes the protective measures in place — means of warning and escape, internal and external fire spread protection, facilities for the fire service — and explains how those measures perform against a recognised benchmark such as Approved Document B (ADB), BS 9991, BS 9999, or CP3.
A Fire Strategy is distinct from a Fire Risk Assessment (FRA). An FRA is an operational assessment of hazards and the actions required to reduce them. A Fire Strategy is the underlying design rationale: why the building's fire safety provisions are configured the way they are, where they meet the benchmark, where they fall short, and how any shortfalls are justified or mitigated.
Who reads a Fire Strategy
Responsible persons and building owners rely on it to understand what fire safety provisions exist and what the ongoing obligations are.
Fire engineers use it as the technical basis for design changes, refurbishments, and alterations.
Approving authorities — Building Control and the Fire and Rescue Service — review it during plans approval, regulatory inspections, and incident investigations.
Regulators under the Building Safety Act (BSA) — most directly the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) for higher-risk buildings — expect a current Fire Strategy as part of the safety case for in-scope buildings.
When a Fire Strategy is required
A Fire Strategy is required, or strongly expected, in a number of circumstances:
For higher-risk buildings under the BSA, where the safety case must demonstrate how fire risks are being managed.
During the design and approval of new buildings, where Building Control needs evidence that the design meets the relevant benchmark.
During refurbishment, change of use, or material alteration of an existing building.
Following major incidents or regulatory action, where an updated strategy is needed to capture remediation.
Beyond legal triggers, a current Fire Strategy is increasingly regarded as part of competent ongoing fire safety management for any complex or multi-occupancy building.
What a Fire Strategy contains
At a minimum, a Fire Strategy describes:
The building — purpose group, height, layout, occupancy, and key structural and protection features.
The benchmark applied — the edition of ADB, BS 9991, BS 9999, CP3, or other guidance the strategy is measured against.
The provisions in each area of fire safety — means of warning and escape, internal fire spread (linings and structure), external fire spread, access for the fire service.
A narrative professional judgement — for each area, whether the building meets the benchmark and, if not, how the shortfall is justified or mitigated.
Remedial actions — where shortfalls cannot be justified, the actions required to bring the building up to standard.
A strategy is most useful when it is current, structured, and tied to the underlying building data, so that it can be reused across subsequent assessments rather than re-described from scratch each time.
Related documents
A Fire Strategy sits alongside several other fire safety documents that share the same underlying building information:
Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs) — operational risk assessments under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.
Door surveys, compartmentation surveys, and asset inspections — focused condition assessments for specific protection measures.
Action plans and remedial tracking — the ongoing management view of all open fire safety actions across a building.
For RiskBase's specific approach to producing Fire Strategies, see The RiskBase Fire Strategy. For step-by-step instructions on completing one in the RiskBase app, see How To: Completing a Fire Strategy.
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