"I insist on having Summit Fire Consulting on our development team. Their critical review in predevelopment always improves our design and execution. Their credibility with local code officials assures us that we are providing excellent life safety design at the best possible price."
Steve Minn, Principal
Lupe Development Partners
Fire Sprinkler Design Services
Description
- Design drawings and specifications for wet, dry, preaction, and clean agent fire protection systems.
- New systems or survey of existing fire protection components to determine potential for re-use.
- Hydraulic calculations with approved fire protection software meeting NFPA requirements.
- Perform hydrant tests and water supply analyses.
- Act as a liaison for the Owner/design team with the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) to present and acquire approval of the fire protection design concepts.
- Review fire protection shop drawings and hydraulic calculations to verify compliance with code, design, and Owner requirements. Document review in writing.
- Inspect installations during construction. Document inspection in writing.
- Design/approval by Professional Engineer (PE) in fire protection engineering.
Level of Involvement
Can vary, depending on specific project and client needs. We can provide fully engineered design drawings with pipe sizing and routing, valve specification, sprinkler layout, hydraulic calculations, etc.—i.e. “permit level” of completion. Conversely, we can provide scope drawings that indicate major design concepts and performance-based requirements. Summit Fire Consulting can be involved during Schematic Design and Design Development only, providing cursory design guidance; or, we can be involved during the entire project: Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents, and Construction Administration.
Sample Project
Summit Fire Consulting worked on a project involving an existing Federal Office Building (FOB) in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, that is operated by the General Services Administration (GSA). Originally, the building was only partially protected with fire sprinklers. GSA enacted a project to provide full fire sprinkler protection and fire alarm protection throughout the entire building, and subsequently hired an Architect to coordinate the project. The Architect hired (as a sub-consultant) a mechanical/electrical Engineer. The mechanical/electrical Engineer, in turn, hired Summit Fire Consulting (as a sub-consultant) to provide detailed design services for fire sprinkler protection—including engineered drawings and specifications, meeting GSA's requirement as being a “permit level” of design detail, similar to that which is typically provided by a design-build fire protection contractor. Unique aspects of the building included: two existing underground water supplies for fire protection, a mixture of construction types (noncombustible and combustible), a large unheated space with existing wet sprinkler pipes, plans for a mixture of shell/unleased spaces and tenant finished spaces, etc. Summit Fire Consulting's scope included an evaluation of potentially re-using existing fire sprinkler components as well as design for the unsprinkled spaces with new fire sprinkler components. GSA has a Fire Protection Engineer in its Chicago office that is verifying compliance with GSA's standards—thus acting as the “Authority Having Jurisdiction” for the project. This project was fast-tracked.
