A BIM Fire Safety Checker — revolutionising the design and regulatory process by BIM automated checking
ABOUT
The FireCheck 4D revolutionises the design and regulatory process by implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM) automated checking functions for compliance with fire safety requirements, enabling precise spatial analysis as well as material tracking for design flexibility and certainty.
It executes a standardised and automated regulatory process, transforming design and checking workflow from manual to automated, through creating machine-readable rules.
By bridging digital precision with physical assurance, we are building a world where every building stands resilient from concept to legacy.
Passive fire design is a critical yet often overlooked aspect of modern construction. The FireCheck 4D significantly reduces human error and enhances productivity and certainty in design, construction as well as adaption and alteration in the whole life span of the building.
Through automating the design and regulatory process, the overall productivity can be increased by more than 30%.
From Data to Compliance
BIM model contains rich digital entities. By analysing regulatory requirements and critical parameters, a structured data schema can be defined, enabling precise data extraction and spatial analysis for automated compliance checking.
Global Adoption
Regulatory requirements in various natural languages and human-understandable logic statements can be seamlessly translated into machine-readable checking rules. This flexible framework facilitates global adoption, enabling rapid digitisation and easy translation of code requirements to cater different performance requirements.
THE 3-CERTAINTY
The FireCheck 4D is digital powerhouse which ensures every building project can achieve the "3-Certainty" in design, construction, and life-cycle.
Design & analysis
Data schema and parameter setting make space, use, evacuation sequence, building elements and construction machine-readable. Our unique data structure successfully extracts essential data from BIM model for automated computation and analysis.
Evacuation sequence analysis is inherently complex, as building escape routes form a matrix of possible scenarios. By extracting the egress direction of each opening between consecutive spaces, an 'in-out' logic is established.
This logic links all spaces along the evacuation path within the BIM model, enabling automated determination of people flow sequences. Such analysis is critical for evaluating travel distances, cumulative population in each space, and the required width and number of escape routes or staircases.
Hong Kong Fire Safety Code stipulates that the width of each exit route, as well as the combined width of all exit routes, must be determined based on occupancy capacity and the number of exits provided. The 'in-out' logic supports this process by computing the possible maximum population in each individual space, ensuring that exit widths are sufficient for safe evacuation.
Unlike paper submission which relies on manual judgment and measurement of travel distances, we have adopted various geometrical principles and developed our own pathfinding algorithms to automate the travel distance assessment.
In Hong Kong, every building should be divided into fire compartments by fire barriers to inhibit the spread of fire. By extracting compartment information and building element data, the integrity and continuity of these fire separations will be automatically assessed.
By delineating emergency vehicular access in the BIM model, spatial analysis will be conducted to ensure the envelope of the building is adequately served by fire appliance.
By providing a digital linkage between design and on-site construction, a reliable system is established which tracks critical material attributes including specifications, suppliers, sampling and test results.
We link BIM models with RFID technology to verify every critical fire safety element is "Built-to-Design". This guarantees flawless execution on-site, eliminating common construction pitfalls that compromise fire safety.
Before implementation of alterations and additions works, the impact of the proposed changes can be simulated for assessment, such as extensions increasing compartment size, use changes raising population loads, or repartitioning affecting travel distances.
This predictive approach spots out possible contraventions and ensures the proposed changes are compatible to fire safety design of the building.
SMART FEATURES
The FireCheck 4D is equipped with a series of smart functions to facilitate data entry and plan preparation, including automatic filling of essential parameters based on room use, identification of missing parameters and data irregularities and systematic import of the checking result schedules back to the BIM file for preparation and processing of plan submissions.
Instant and automatic filling of essential parameters based on room use for precise parameter input.
Identification of missing parameters and data irregularities for seamless interactive correction in BIM model.
Systematic import of schedules generated by the tools back to the BIM file for preparation and processing of plan submission.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Gold Medal with Jury Congratulations
Best Innovation Award
Gold Award in API/Plugin Category
Winner in Research and Innovation Category
Value Enhancement Award
More Information
EXPERIENCE THE TOOL
How the FireCheck 4D works? Click the icon below to start a mini game and experience the checking of travel distance.
