Fire Strategy Reports Written for Building Control and Planning
A fire strategy report is the written document that sets out a building’s fire-safety design (how people escape, how fire is contained, how it is detected and how the fire service reaches it) and demonstrates that the design meets the Building Regulations. It is the deliverable a fire engineer produces for building control or planning, usually alongside fire strategy drawings. SustainPlan arranges fixed-fee fire strategy reports across England and Wales through a network of chartered fire engineers.
Send your drawings for a fixed-fee fire strategy report quote.
What is a fire strategy report?
A fire strategy report is the written half of a fire strategy: a structured document that explains, section by section, how the building is designed to be safe from fire and which regulations and standards it complies with. Where the fire strategy drawings show the design visually, the report explains and justifies it in words.
A typical fire strategy report covers:
Building description and use: what the building is, its size, height, occupancy and construction.
Design standards applied: Approved Document B (2019 edition as amended; the Government’s practical fire-safety guidance for meeting the Building Regulations in England, with a separate Welsh edition) and the relevant British Standard: BS 9991:2024 for residential buildings, BS 9999:2017 for non-residential, or a BS 7974:2019 performance-based approach (supported by the PD 7974 series of technical guidance) for engineered designs.
Means of escape: travel distances, exit capacities, protected escape routes and stairs, and how long people have to get out.
Compartmentation and fire resistance, the fire-resisting walls and floors that divide the building and the periods (in minutes) they must resist fire.
Detection and alarm, the fire detection and warning system category.
Passive and active fire protection: fire doors, cavity barriers and fire stopping (passive), and alarms, sprinklers or smoke ventilation (active).
Fire-service access and facilities, how firefighters reach and fight a fire.
Management and assumptions, the conditions the design relies on.
The finished report is issued as a PDF ready to submit with your building control or planning application.
Not a fire risk assessment. A fire strategy report is a design document for a new or altered building, produced to gain approval. A fire risk assessment is a separate legal duty covering an existing occupied building under the Fire Safety Order. If you have been asked for a fire risk assessment on a building already in use, that is a different document from the one on this page.
When do you need a fire strategy report?
Your building control submission needs written evidence that the fire-safety design complies.
Planning requires a fire strategy or fire statement to support the application.
You are building a higher-risk building in England (18m+ or 7+ storeys with 2+ homes) and need the report as the fire and emergency file in the building control approval application (Gateway 2) under the Building Safety Act 2022.
A building control officer or approved inspector has asked for a fire strategy report to resolve a fire-safety query on your design.
You are extending, converting or refurbishing and the works change escape or fire spread.
A funder, insurer or warranty provider wants the fire-safety design documented.
How it works: our 5-step process
Send drawings and details. Architectural plans, elevations and sections, plus the building use and project stage. We return a fixed-fee quote.
Design review. The fire engineer reviews the design against Approved Document B and the relevant British Standard.
Report drafted. We write the strategy up section by section, flagging any design issue early while it is cheap to fix.
Report (and drawings) issued. You receive the written fire strategy report as a submission-ready PDF, with fire strategy drawings where the project needs them.
Approval support. We respond to building control or Building Safety Regulator queries and revise the report if the design changes.
How much does a fire strategy report cost?
Fire strategy reports are quoted per project on a fixed fee. The main cost drivers are the building’s size and height, its use and occupancy, and whether a standard (Approved Document B) or engineered (BS 7974:2019) route is needed: so a single dwelling sits at the bottom of the range and a higher-risk or engineered building is quoted individually.
Table: Fire strategy report fee drivers by report type (UK, 2026)
This is the highest-value document on the site, get the fixed fee before you commit.
What goes in a fire strategy report: the contents
Buyers often ask what a fire strategy report actually contains. As a rule it includes: an introduction and building description; the regulatory and standards basis; means of escape; compartmentation and structural fire resistance; internal and external fire spread; detection, warning and firefighting provisions; fire-service access; management and maintenance assumptions; and the fire strategy drawings as appendices. The exact contents scale with the building, a single dwelling report is short; a residential block or commercial building is more detailed.
The regulation behind it: why now
The Building Safety Act 2022 made the written fire strategy central to approval for higher-risk buildings in England. The building control approval application (Gateway 2) must include a fire and emergency file, the document the industry knows as the fire strategy, and it must be granted before building work starts, with the same file needed again at completion (Gateway 3). The report also seeds the “golden thread”, the accurate fire-safety information that must be kept for the building’s whole life. For ordinary projects, Approved Document B (2019 edition as amended in England; a separate Welsh edition applies in Wales) remains the benchmark building control measures your report against. A clear, well-evidenced report is what turns a fire-safety design into an approval rather than a round of queries.
Report vs plan vs drawings: which do you need?
Most UK building control submissions need the written report and the drawings together; the plan is the plan-led form of the same design, not a third document.
Table: Fire strategy report vs fire strategy plan vs fire strategy drawings (UK, 2026)
Most building control submissions use the report and drawings together. If you are not sure which you need, send us the drawings and we will tell you.
Validity and turnaround
The report stays valid while the building is built as designed. If the design changes, the report is revised. Turnaround depends on the building’s size and complexity and how complete your drawings are; we give an honest timescale with the quote.
Fire strategies by building type
We write fire strategy reports for houses and self-builds, flats and residential blocks (BS 9991:2024), offices, retail, warehouses and industrial buildings (BS 9999:2017), change-of-use and refurbishment schemes, and construction-phase strategies. High-liability sectors such as hospitals and schools are taken case by case, tell us the project and we will confirm fit before quoting.
Our fire strategy services
Fire Strategy, the overview: what a fire strategy is and when you need one.
Fire Strategy Plan, the plan-led version of the strategy.
Fire Strategy Drawings, the colour-coded CAD drawings that accompany this report.
Fire Safety Strategy, the strategy prepared to support a planning submission.
Fire Strategy Consultant, work directly with a chartered fire engineer.
Retrospective Fire Strategy, a report for an existing building that never had one.
Fire Statement, the planning-stage fire statement for relevant high-rise residential schemes.
Fire Engineer, the chartered professional who authors the report.
Who we work with
Architects, developers and housebuilders, main contractors, approved inspectors and building control bodies, self-builders, and building owners who need a written, compliant fire strategy report to submit.
Why choose us
Chartered fire engineers. Every report is arranged through a network of chartered fire engineers.
Fixed fees, the price before you commit.
Submission-ready PDFs building control can read and approve.
Areas we cover
Across England and Wales, with particular coverage across Gloucestershire, Bristol, Somerset, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Greater London and South Wales (Cardiff, Newport, Caerphilly, Swansea, Bridgend, Torfaen). (Links to ALL county hubs.)
Get a fixed-fee quote
Send your drawings for a fixed-fee fire strategy report quote. Send everything through the enquiry form.
Frequently asked questions
What is a fire strategy report?
A fire strategy report is the written document that sets out a building’s fire-safety design (escape routes, compartmentation, detection, fire-service access) and shows it complies with the Building Regulations. It is produced by a fire engineer for building control or planning, usually with fire strategy drawings.
How much does a fire strategy report cost?
It is quoted per project on a fixed fee. The price depends on the building’s size, height, use and whether a standard or engineered design route is needed. We give you the fixed fee before you commit, send the drawings for a quote.
What is included in a fire strategy report?
Typically: building description, the standards applied, means of escape, compartmentation and fire resistance, detection and alarm, passive and active fire protection, fire-service access, and the fire strategy drawings as appendices. The detail scales with the building.
Is a fire strategy report the same as a fire risk assessment?
No. A fire strategy report is a design document for a new or altered building, produced for approval. A fire risk assessment is a separate legal duty for an existing occupied building under the Fire Safety Order. This page is about the fire strategy report.
Do I need a fire strategy report for building control?
For most new builds, extensions and changes of use, building control expects a written fire strategy report to evidence the fire-safety design. For higher-risk buildings in England it is the fire and emergency file that must be included in the building control approval application (Gateway 2) under the Building Safety Act 2022.
Can I get a fire strategy report example or template?
Some of the fire strategy reports you find online are real strategies uploaded to council planning portals, which shows what the document is actually for: a building-control or planning submission on a specific building. Rather than adapt a template, we produce a report specific to your building, a generic template rarely satisfies building control.
How long does a fire strategy report take?
It depends on the building’s complexity and how complete your drawings are. We give an honest timescale with your fixed-fee quote instead of a blanket promise.
Get in touch
Send your drawings, get a fixed fee
Tell us about the building and what stage it has reached. Enquiries arriving in working hours are normally acknowledged the same day, with the fee following once the drawings have been read properly.
- We will tell you plainly if your project does not need one
- Fixed fee confirmed before any work starts
- Building control queries handled as part of the instruction
Everything routes through this form, so your enquiry reaches the engineer rather than a general mailbox.