UK Part B Fire Safety Review
UK Part B Fire Safety Review runs a Revit-side fire-safety check against Approved Document B for UK Building Regs sign-off, covering means of warning and escape, internal fire spread (linings and structure), external fire spread, and fire-service access under Volume 1 and Volume 2. The Code Compliance Agent executes the active Part B library against the working model, citing every flag to the relevant ADB clause, available now as a Labs engagement under MSA + Appendix.
- Full Approved Document B fire-safety review run against the working Revit model with every issue cited back to the specific ADB clause and paragraph.
- Means of escape, compartmentation, internal and external fire spread, and fire-service-access categories all configured per project scope and building type.
- Fire-safety audit trail exported for Building Control submission and Higher-Risk Building gateway approvals, aligned with the wider UK Building Regs Approved Documents set.
From late-stage fire-safety findings to in-Revit Part B flags in DD.
Workflow today
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01
Designer drafts the model
Weeks 1–6, the architectural team builds the Revit model to office standards, sets up levels, zones, and room data, and pushes layouts through internal design reviews. Part B familiarity often sits with an external fire-safety consultant, so means of escape, compartmentation, and travel-distance issues accumulate silently in the background model.
Week 1–6 -
02
Fire-safety consultant engaged
Around Weeks 6–9, an external fire engineer audits the architectural set against their Approved Document B checklist. The hand-off runs through marked-up PDFs, screenshots, and Excel trackers; the Revit model’s compartmentation and fire-stopping rarely match the 2D fire strategy drawings, so comments describe intent rather than model-specific fixes.
Week 6–9 -
03
Issues mediated
Weeks 9–11, senior architects and the fire engineer mediate a long list of issues with limited context. Teams reverse-engineer which ADB clause applies, whether it is Volume 1 or Volume 2, and how it interacts with other Building Regs such as UK Building Regs Approved Documents. Travel-distance, stair-protection, and compartmentation changes at this stage trigger expensive redesign and coordination rounds.
Week 9–11 -
04
Submit to Building Control
From Week 11–14+, the team submits to Building Control with a narrative fire strategy and marked-up drawings. Under the Building Safety Act, Higher-Risk Buildings pass additional gateway scrutiny, and late fire-safety clarifications often lead to resubmissions, extra meetings with Building Control, and further model changes that ripple into structure, MEP, and any parallel accessibility work such as a UK Part M accessibility review.
Week 11–14+
Workflow with VitruAI
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01
Run the agent
On Day 1, the BIM Manager runs the Code Compliance Agent against the current Revit model with the customer-specific Part B rule library active. The agent reads rooms, doors, stairs, fire compartments, and fire-safety parameters, and evaluates them against the configured ADB Volume 1 or Volume 2 rules, with run-times calibrated per deployment but typically in single-digit minutes per typical model.
Day 1 · single-digit-minutes per typical model -
02
Review flags in Revit
Between Day 1–3, the design team reviews issues pinned directly in Revit, each tagged with the ADB clause, affected elements, and a suggested remediation. Means of escape routes show travel-distance overruns, protected lobbies missing, or door widths below thresholds; compartmentation, internal linings, and external wall fire-spread risks appear as model-based flags rather than generic PDF comments.
Day 1–3 -
03
Fire-safety consultant signs
By Day 3–5, the architect resolves priority issues, re-runs the agent to confirm that the Part B checks pass, and then shares the structured report with the fire engineer. The consultant reviews the clause-by-clause output, focuses on edge cases and performance-based departures, and signs the narrative that accompanies the ADB-compliant route while keeping responsibility for professional judgement.
Day 3–5 -
04
Submit to Building Control
Within Week 1, the team submits to Building Control with a citable Part B report aligned to the Building Safety Act gateway requirements for Higher-Risk Buildings. The same audit trail sits alongside the architectural Revit sheets, any UK Part M accessibility review outputs, and, where relevant, parallel work such as the US-focused IBC egress check in Revit for global portfolios, while keeping each jurisdiction’s rule set clearly separated.
Week 1
UK Part B fire-safety review in practice
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What does Part B cover?
Approved Document B sets the fire-safety guidance under the UK Building Regs, covering means of warning and escape, internal fire spread through linings, internal fire spread via structure, external fire spread, and access and facilities for the fire service. Volume 1 applies to dwellings and small residential buildings, while Volume 2 covers buildings other than dwellings. In this workflow, the Part B rules are configured into a project-specific library aligned with the customer’s fire engineer and the broader UK Building Regs Approved Documents.
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Does it handle the Building Safety Act 2022 gateway requirements?
The Labs workflow formats the Part B audit trail to support Gateway 2 and Gateway 3 evidence requirements for Higher-Risk Buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022. The report groups findings by ADB clause, building zone, and risk, so it can sit directly in the gateway submission pack. The customer’s fire engineer remains the responsible signer for the strategy and any departures from guidance.
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How does Part B differ from a fire-engineering performance-based design?
Approved Document B describes a prescriptive compliance route based on set distances, compartment sizes, and construction types, which this workflow checks against the Revit model. Performance-based fire engineering uses separate modelling and analysis to justify alternative solutions, often for complex geometries or special occupancies. The Labs engagement focuses on the ADB-prescriptive route, while performance-based assessments remain a separate, fire-engineer-led scope agreed outside the Part B library build.
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How does this compare to US IBC fire and egress checks?
UK Part B and the International Building Code sit in different jurisdictions with distinct terminology, clause structures, and occupancy classifications. The same Code Compliance Agent can run either a UK Part B library or a US IBC egress library once configured, but each is authored and validated separately. For US projects, firms typically use the dedicated IBC egress check in Revit workflow, while UK projects use the Part B fire-safety review described here.
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What’s the Labs engagement timeline?
A typical Labs engagement runs 6–10 weeks from kickoff to a working Part B agent on the customer’s first live project. Weeks 1–3 focus on scoping the Approved Document B coverage with the customer’s fire engineer and mapping Revit parameters; Weeks 3–6 cover rule authoring, calibration, and initial test runs. The final weeks refine edge cases, align outputs with Building Control expectations, and prepare roll-out alongside related workflows such as the UK Part M accessibility review.