Society has responded to the threat of fire in buildings in many ways, including: fire brigades, insurance, building regulations, education on fire hazards, controls on the use of materials and products in buildings and the design of buildings to resist the effects of fire. The level of fire safety and protection in buildings reflects the general economic, social and cultural features of society.

Building regulations are an important component in the design for fire safety and protection in buildings. The prescriptive design requirements in building regulations were introduced many years ago and were applicable to the technology and practices then in vogue. Many of the regulatory provisions were empirically derived, but they have assumed great authority with the passage of time, although perhaps lacking technical substantiation. These prescriptive requirements in building regulations reflect the low level of technology previously available for the design of fire safety and protection in buildings.

It is generally acknowledged that the current design approach specified in building regulations has resulted in the achievement of fire safety and protection levels that the community appears to accept. However, the prescriptive design approach is unlikely to result in the most cost-effective design solutions, nor in designs which maintain a consistent level of safety and protection in buildings. Furthermore, the prescriptive regulatory design approach restricts the range of design choices that are available; this inhibits and restricts innovation (Warren Centre Project Report in Ref. [23] pp. 7, 8).

In recent decades, a more systematic engineering approach has been developed...