BC Update: No.2 - Consultation on International Fire Engineering Guidelines Part 0 - New Zealand
6 Dec 2004: The Department of Building and Housing seeks public comment on International Fire Engineering Guidelines Part 0 - New Zealand.
The proposals set out for consultation are an important measure for improving fire safety in New Zealand. They set out a proposed New Zealand-specific section to the International Fire Engineering Guidelines and present an opportunity for advancing the standard of fire engineered solutions.
New Zealand has a performance-based building code. The Department’s Building Controls Group (formerly the Building Industry Authority) has published a Compliance Document called C/AS1 which, if followed, provides a means of complying with the Fire Safety Clauses of the New Zealand Building Code.
However, it is not a mandatory document and designers have the option of developing other solutions for buildings to meet the performance criteria of this part of the Building Code. These designs are called Alternative Solutions and must be well-documented and developed from sound engineering principles.
The International Fire Engineering Guidelines (IFEG) have been developed using internationally accepted practices to assist fire engineers, and others involved in building, to follow an agreed process within which solutions can be developed.
The guidelines have been developed through collaboration between the Australian Building Codes Board, the Canadian Codes Centre of the National Research Council of Canada, the United States International Codes Council and the Building Industry Authority, New Zealand.
New Zealand (as have the other collaborators) has developed its own country-specific section, Part 0, that provides a link between the regulatory framework for New Zealand and the international sections of the IFEG. It is this part that is being consulted on. Parts 1, 2 and 3, containing information on the process, methodologies and data for fire engineering, remain international.
These Parts are available at Consulting on, along with the consultation document.
The IFEG is a guidance document only. It has been distributed to interested stakeholders to provide industry with the opportunity to comment on the New Zealand-specific Part 0.
The International Fire Engineering Guidelines are to be published by the Australian Building Codes Board in 2005.
If you would like a copy of the consultation document on IFEG Part 0, you can download it as a PDF from the webpage above, or you can obtain a hard copy by calling 0800 242 243.
The closing date for submitting comments on the proposed changes is 31 January 2005.