Trusted Fire Safety Expertise – Over 30 Years of Industry Leadership
Fire Safety Partnership (FSP) is an independent fire safety and fire engineering consultancy. We specialise in healthcare. We are the Authorising Engineer (Fire) to more than 40 NHS Trusts across England and on schemes within the government’s New Hospital Programme.
Why healthcare is different
In most buildings, a fire alarm means everyone leaves. In a hospital, many patients cannot leave without help. Some cannot be moved at all without putting their care at risk. The building never closes, and clinical services must keep running.
That changes everything about how fire safety is designed, built and managed. For 15 years, it has been the focus of our work.
The New Hospital Programme
We are the Authorising Engineer (Fire) on schemes within the New Hospital Programme, the government’s programme to build new NHS hospitals to consistent national standards. These include:
- Oriel, the new Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology centre at St Pancras
- the National Rehabilitation Centre near Loughborough
- Watford General Hospital
- Royal Shrewsbury Hospital
This gives us direct experience of how fire safety is being delivered in the next generation of NHS hospitals.
Our experience
Alongside the New Hospital Programme, we have worked on thousands of NHS refurbishment and new build projects, from single room alterations to major new facilities.
We work across acute, mental health and community Trusts, including high secure mental health services. We know HTM 05-02 and the wider Firecode guidance in detail, and we understand how fire safety has to work on a live ward, not just on a drawing.
We also advise universities, the nuclear sector and utility companies, where the same rigour is needed.
Independent assurance for more than 40 NHS Trusts
As Authorising Engineer (Fire), we give NHS Trusts independent assurance that their fire safety arrangements are suitable, properly maintained and understood by those responsible for them.
That role only works if the advice is independent. We give our honest opinion, even when it challenges a design or established practice. We look at whether fire safety arrangements will work in practice, not only whether they comply. Where evidence is missing or assumptions have been made, we say so.
What we do
- Fire strategies for new and existing buildings
- Reviews of fire strategies prepared by others
- Fire engineering advice
- Design reviews against HTM 05-02 and Approved Document B
- Fire risk assessments
- Construction inspections and witnessing
- Independent technical audits
- Verification of fire safety systems
- Advice on existing buildings that fall short of current guidance, with proportionate solutions based on the real risk
Quality assurance
ISO 9001 certified. BAFE SP205 accredited. £5 million professional indemnity insurance.
Our founding Director is a highly respected figure in the healthcare sector, providing fire engineering advice and solutions across a range of acute, community, and primary care settings. Darren serves as the Authorising Engineer (Fire) for multiple NHS Trusts nationally, working on various projects including new build hospitals, and most recently, Nightingale hospitals, National Laboratory testing centres, and mass vaccination centres in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He regularly chairs Qualitative Design Reviews, HAZOPs, and FMEAs, providing NHS Trusts with fire safety assurance. Darren has designed fire strategies using a wide range of local, national, and international codes and standards, offering fire-engineered solutions. Previously, he held positions at international engineering companies, working on both national and international projects, including Oil & Gas, Nuclear, Airports, and Rail. He is a chartered member of IOSH and a full member of IFE, IHEEM, and APS.
A particular area of interest for Darren is the quality governance of fire safety/engineering in the design of hospitals.
